Study shows greater number of children, adolescents living with parents who have substance use disorders than previously known

Earlier this year, a groundbreaking study conducted at Texas State University and published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine revealed that nearly 17 million children and adolescents in the U.S. live with a parent who has a substance use disorder.

Now, updated research conducted by Ty S. Schepis, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Psychology and Faculty Fellow at the Translational Health Research Center at TXST, and colleagues from the University of Michigan, shows that the issue is more extensive than initially thought, with up to 19 million children affected. 

The findings are reported in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

The new study uses the most up-to-date data available, from 2023, to estimate the number of children living in a household with a parent who has a substance use disorder. The previous study was limited to data from 2020 and found that 16,937,783 children lived in a home with a parent who has a substance use disorder; for 2023, that number was 18,968,894—an increase of 12%.

“Even removing the 861,061 who lived with a parent had a substance use disorder even though they took medication as prescribed, 18,107,833 children had a parent in the home with a substance use disorder, which is a 6.9% increase from 2020.”

The researchers also found that 6,148,289 children lived with a parent who had a substance use disorder coupled with either major depression or a positive screening for serious psychological distress, and 3,409,675 lived with a parent who had two or more substance use disorders. These children, in particular, will need identification and services because living with a parent who has both psychological problems and substance use disorder is a sign of very high risk.

Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health, the study offers insight into the significant number of children and adolescents exposed to heavy substance use in the home. These findings emphasize the importance of reaching this population through targeted interventions to improve their health and well-being.