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“Substance abuse and contributing factors”

Name

University

“Substance abuse and contributing factors”

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While various influences influence an individual's risk of dependency, it is crucial to understand

what addiction actually means. Substance abuse or drug addiction is a neurological disorder that

can effectively affect the structure and functioning of the brain. Drug dependence impedes

normal brain function, much as disorders of other body organs. It can be treated and prevented

while opioid use is a lifelong problem. Because opioid abuse and alcohol addiction are persistent

problems in the USA, scientists and researchers researched why people become toxic when

others take alcohol and narcotics without becoming contaminated. While several individuals may

have many factors (Gender, genetics, socioeconomic status, mental wellbeing, ethnicity)

contributing to their dependence, some may only have a handful and others will only have one

factor contributing to their support. These different addiction mechanisms and their influences

are somewhat different from person to person (Kallander et al., 2020).

The wellbeing of an individual plays an important role. If you have symptoms of anxiety,

solitude or depression, you will use and misuse medicine more likely, mainly if the medications

give you immediate relief from those feelings. A denial of traditional beliefs or faith has long

term consequences. The refusal to drug use may lead people to identify themselves with like-

minded peers who reject traditional values or religion and decide that drugs are fine. How rich

you are has nothing to do with your addiction inclination. The rationale for these myths is that

drug addiction is more prevalent in people living in poverty or poorer economic condition;

however, they are not explicitly related, which may not prove cause or effect (Allen et al., 2020).

Instead, drug addiction is more of a lifestyle by-product of people with little financial ability.

The indirect connection is generally distributed over multiple contributing risk factors, not just

one source. For instance, a careless mother who is not employed and lives with her child in
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government housing will pass on her tendency to drink her sorrows every day in alcohol. This

control is genetic and ecological (Fisher et al, 2017).

A rich person may not be subjected to the same traumas; he is only less likely to happen in

households, not poor. Essentially, in poorer economic sectors and communities than others, risk

factors that predispose individuals to drug dependence and addiction are more common.

In short, higher educated people are less likely to be drug addicts. What does this mean to those

who are unable to afford a secondary education? A study comparing secondary school senior

citizens from 1981 and 1986 revealed decreases in drop-in rates over the five-year cycle,

however among students with more skilled parents was the most notable reduction — from

36.7% to 23.7%. Besides, the least essential adjustment was for children whose parents did not

go to high school – a decrease of just 2.7% from 25.4% to 22.7%. (Kerr, 1987).

We have acknowledged that later on, the past of violence and neglect is a warning factor for drug

abuse. About 70 per cent of these incidents were recorded opioid or alcohol misuse and

negligence during the 10-year study. The likelihood of adult drug addicts is 2,7-fold higher, and

they are 4,2-fold lower (Wimberley et al, 2020). It is a well-established fact that in lower-income

families, the same history is more likely to happen.

While two occurrences are not directly caused, the correlation between violence and negligence

and low income/poverty is convincing enough evidence to consider the precursor to dependence.

Indeed, both will make you much more susceptible to drugs or substance dependence by

combination. Eighty-five per cent in a poll of state welfare agencies said that their child

protection issues included parental medicines and alcohol use and poverty.
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Genetics play an equally important part of drug abuse as the climate does. Genetics account for

about 40 to 60 per cent of an addict's genetic disposition to drug abuse. Do genomes, therefore,

have any effect on economic condition? Indeed, there are anomalies, but money generates riches

much of the time, and this can be attributed to education, with higher-income households having

children who go to college (Fisher et al., 2017).

Mental wellbeing is one of the most significant known drug misuse risk factors. Around 29% of

someone who has a mental health condition is frequently afflicted with opioid or alcohol

dependence. Being that 43.7 million Americans are affected by psychiatric illness, more people

struggle with co-occurring problems. Mental diseases are often not limited to what they chose.

Many rich people are afflicted with anxiety disorder, depression and other mental health

problems. However, once again, for people of low economic status, the probability of many of

these ailments is greater.

Seventy per cent of people with familial income averages less than $20,000 are the most often

affected by mental disease, of those with a high family income of $75,000 or higher, the lowest

cases of severe mental illness (6.4 per cent). The correlation with mental disease is not more

straightforward than what we have spoken about, although it is clear that economic conditions

may affect mental health risks, which may impact the risk of drug addiction. The cause and

effect is a slippery slope. Another research found a propensity to see poverty before mental

disease develops, except schizophrenia.

There is a substantial disparity between races and class in today's world. Grohol (2015) reports

that Caucasian households received a median income of $51,861 in 2009; American families

received $32,584 in an African home and $38,039 in Hispanic households. Caucasians are more
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likely than African American people to consume and misuse drugs. A survey of 72,561 young

people culminated in using substances by 37% of them, 9% of white, contrasted with 5% black;

(Szalavtia, 2011).

The incidence rate among breeds does not vary considerably, but mental illness is a minor factor.

In the United States alone, 33.3% of whites, 35.5% of blacks and 34.4% of Hispanics are

registered for mental ills. During youth, parental drug addiction can predispose people to several

issues, including adult drug usage and alcohol abuse. Alcoholic parents' children face a four

times greater chance of being alcoholic later in their lives. Moreover, families' economic

statuses, where one of the two caretakers is drug addicts are more deficient.

About nine per cent of the children living in America live with at least 1 adult who misuses

alcohol or drugs as per the Capaldi's recent study (2008).

Overall, opioid addiction in people who are living in poverty, it is more common, as compared to

any of the listed above risk factors for drugs as well as the abuse of alcohol. About twenty

percent of the Americans indicated that they used illegal drugs the year before they were

surveyed. Anyone who raises less than $20,000 a year is around a third less likely than anyone

who raises more than $70,000 to rebound from cocaine use. Even the use of substance abuse has

a discernable impact. In a 2007 Gardner study (2011), the figure is 23% who used cocaine at

least once, 19% of who were day and night as well as approximately around fifteen percent of

those who worked evening tried it.

A study by Kallander et al (2020) noted that the usage of substances and homelessness also occur

alongside them. In 2003, 38% of the homeless people were alcoholics, and 26% were opioid

addicts. The misuse of substances also causes extreme poverty. However, those people who have
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no area for the living use of drugs as well as to drink, to keep their emotions and life issues away

from being treated.

References

1. Kerr, P. (1987). “Rich vs. Poor: Drug Patterns are Diverging.” New York Times.
Accessed June 3, 2015.
2. Kallander, E. K., Weimand, B. M., Hanssen‐Bauer, K., Van Roy, B., & Ruud, T. (2020).
Factors associated with quality of life for children affected by parental illness or
substance abuse. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences.
3. Allen, J. P., Loeb, E. L., Narr, R. K., & Costello, M. A. (2020). Different factors predict
adolescent substance use versus adult substance abuse: Lessons from a social-
developmental approach. Development and Psychopathology, 1-11.
4. Wimberley, T., Agerbo, E., Horsdal, H. T., Ottosen, C., Brikell, I., Als, T. D., ... &
Dalsgaard, S. (2020). Genetic liability to ADHD and substance use disorders in
individuals with ADHD. Addiction, 115(7), 1368-1377.
5. Fisher, S., Zapolski, T. C., Sheehan, C., & Barnes-Najor, J. (2017). Pathway of
protection: Ethnic identity, self-esteem, and substance use among multiracial
youth. Addictive behaviors, 72, 27-32.
6. Gardner Selby, W. (2012). “Joe Deshotel says there is no evidence showing poor people
use drugs more frequently than members of other socioeconomic groups.” Politicfact
Texas.

7. Grohol, J.M. (2015). “The Vicious Cycle of Poverty and Mental Health.” Psych Central.
8. Szalavtia, M. (2011). “Study: Whites More Likely to Abuse Drugs than Blacks.” TIME
Magazine.
9. Capaldi, L. (2008). “The Relationship Between Parental Substance Abuse and the Effects
on Young Children.” Providence College.