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Abstract
The study explored the negative behaviors, emotional stress and depressive symptoms of children with substance dependent parents. Fifty children of substance dependent parents whose ages ranged from 11 to 18 years old were the study participants who took the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-42 and the ten highest scorers were interviewed. Majority of the children came from a low-income, nuclear family where the parents had been into drug use for at least five years. Exploration of the children’s experiences revealed that their schooling had been compromised due to continuing drug use of parent/s which in turn was influential on their own drug using activities. The stigma and the problem of being ostracized by society and the disengagement of relationship to friends and other significant people prevailed as caused by the drug using activities of parent/s. Moreover, parental substance dependency impacted the family’s dynamics, leading to some of the participants having suicidal thoughts and denying reality. Interviews of significant others (e.g., neighbors, grandparents, friends, and others) indicated the presence of negative modeling and lack of parental supervision, growing up in an aversive environment and among deleterious people, a display of oppositional behaviors, the likelihood of developing internet gaming addiction, increased health problems, and the perception that children wanted to have change in their lives as they tried to develop courage in the midst of all the adversities they faced. Based on the findings of the study, an intervention program intended for the children and the parents was designed.
