Alcohol use

In the 2005 survey, six percent of children lived in households where alcohol use was reported to be a problem. Four percent of children lived in a household where alcohol use was reported to be a ‘small,’ problem, and for the remaining children, alcohol use was reported to be a ‘moderate’ or ‘big’ problem. Parents were asked about the people in the household whose alcohol use was a problem. Among children living with alcohol-use problems in the household, 64% lived in a household where this problem was reported to be with the child’s father, 20% with another child in the family, and 8% with the mother. Eighty-three percent of children living in a household where alcohol use was a problem had parents who reported that there was some effect on the child resulting from alcohol use. Problems primarily stemmed from family stress and financial burden.

Prescription and illegal drug use

Two percent of children live in households with a reported drug-use problem. Among these children, 53% were in a household where a problem was caused by illegal drugs, 34% prescription medications, and 13% both illegal and prescription drugs. When rating the effect of the problem, one-third of children had parents reporting that the drug use had no effect on their child; almost another one-third of children had parents reporting the highest effect on their child. As with alcohol, problems stemmed primarily from family stress and financial burden.