The loss of a parent has a negative influence on adolescents who consume more products dangerous to their health. But this would also be the case with preadolescents, before the age of twelve. This is what reveals a study published in Archives of Disease in Childhood. British researchers have thus been interested in the consumption of alcohol and tobacco by children who have lost a parent. By this they mean the fact of not living with one of the two biological parents, following his death or the breakdown of the parental couple, before the age of 7 years.
Twice as many teenage smokers among children living with a parent
In their study, the scientists analyzed the results of the UK Millennium Cohort Study. This survey scans the health of 11,000 children born between 2000 and 2002, with a regular questionnaire completed by parents (at 9 months, 3 years, 5 years, 7 years and 11 years). In this population, 3.6% of boys and 1.9% of girls admit to having smoked by the age of 11. Alcohol is more popular with pre-teens, with one in seven boys and one in ten girls experiencing its effects, some to the point of drunkenness. A situation already worrying but much more serious among children affected by the loss of a parent (a quarter of respondents). They are twice as likely to smoke and 46% more likely to drink than their peers living in nuclear families (two parents).
In order to guarantee the reliability of the results, many other factors which could influence the intake of these substances were taken into account: age of the mother at the time of pregnancy, education, maternal smoking, weight at birth, duration of pregnancy. Moreover, the sex of the child, the missing parent and the age of the loss do not seem to have an impact on these risky practices.
The death of a parent is less of an incentive to drink alcohol
On the other hand, it should be noted that a deceased parent carries a lower risk of consuming alcohol than a parent who is still alive but absent from the home. However, among children with one parent who has died, those who drink are twelve times more likely to experience drunkenness than those whose loss is due to another cause.
To explain these associations between loss of a parent and premature consumption, researchers cite the lack of parental supervision, the greater recourse to self-medication, and the adoption of less healthy strategies to overcome this difficult passage. Thus, nicotine can be sought for its psychoactive properties of regulating mood.
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