Parental Substance Abuse and Child Well-Being

Parental substance abuse is associated with adverse health and developmental outcomes for children. Existing research, however, has not fully explored the relative magnitude of the associations between maternal, paternal, and both parents' substance abuse and child outcomes, nor has it examined these associations in regard to substance abuse among nonresident fathers. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study ( N = 3,027) to explore these issues among a cohort of 3-year-old children. We find that children living with a substance-abusing parent are at considerable risk for poor health and behavior outcomes, that such risk is not moderated by parent gender, and that it is substantially larger when both parents have substance abuse problems. Moreover, children with substance-abusing fathers are at a potentially higher risk of health and behavior problems when their fathers live with them, although this risk is still substantial when they do not.