Growing up with parental substance use disorder: The struggle with complex emotions, regulation of contact, and lack of professional support

The aim of the study was to explore young people's perceptions and reflections about growing up with parents who have substance use disorder (SUD). In qualitative interviews with 12 young people (aged 13–26) and in an interpretative phenomenological analysis, we investigated their experiences o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child & family social work 2019-05, Vol.24 (2), p.201-208
Main Authors: Wangensteen, Turid, Bramness, Jørgen Gustav, Halsa, Astrid
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictions
child protection
Child welfare
children–parents relationship
Discourses
drug abuse
Drug addiction
Drug use
Emotional regulation
Emotions
Everyday life
Families & family life
Interpretative phenomenological analysis
next of kin
parental SUD
Parents
Parents & parenting
Psychology: 260
Psykologi: 260
Regularity
Respondents
Samfunnsvitenskap: 200
Social science: 200
Sociocultural factors
Substance abuse
Substance use disorder
substanceuse disorder
VDP
Young Adults
Youth
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Summary:The aim of the study was to explore young people's perceptions and reflections about growing up with parents who have substance use disorder (SUD). In qualitative interviews with 12 young people (aged 13–26) and in an interpretative phenomenological analysis, we investigated their experiences of everyday life, of the relationships with the parents with SUD, and of conversations about this, both retrospectively and at the present. The findings indicated that the relationships with the parents largely occupied the informants, even when they lived separately from the parent and were protected from the daily exposure of substance use. The informants described their mixed and contradictory emotions towards their parents and the struggle to determine regulation and type of contact. They asked for professional support in order to help them cope with this. Sociocultural discourses concerning family life and substance use were discussed in an attempt to understand the findings. The findings of the study suggest that children and young people should be offered sufficient professional support in order to cope with their mixed and contradictory emotions and to determine the regularity and type of contact with the parents.
ISSN:1356-7500
1365-2206
1365-2206
DOI:10.1111/cfs.12603