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Resilient Children of Parents Affected by a Dependency

Introduction

This paper entitled "Resilient Children of Parents Affected by a Dependency" was first published, as the second section of the report on « Les enfants de parents affectés d'une dépendence : bilan des connaissances et leçons pour l'intervention  », by the Comité permanent de lutte à la toxicomanie (CPLT) of Quebec. It was prepared by three experts in the field, Frank Vitaro, Ph.D, of the Université de Montréal, Jean-Marc Assaad, Ph.D, of McGill University and René Carbonneau, Ph.D, of the Université de Montréal.

Because of the lack of clear understanding surrounding the notion of resilience and the lack of awareness vis-à-vis the current knowledge, including promotion and intervention programs and research activities, the Office of Research and Surveillance of the Drug Strategy and Controlled Substances Programme, Health Canada, believes it is important to share this information with all Canadians. As such, Health Canada entered into an agreement with the CPLT to translate this paper for publishing in both official languages. The Office of Research and Surveillance would like to thank the authors and the CPLT for providing the opportunity to publish this work in both official languages and, at the same time, commend them for their excellent work.

Until recently, many studies on children of a parent or parents with an addiction were heavily weighted on the difficulties and problems these children face as they develop into adults. Current intervention and prevention approaches most often focus on risks factors and problematic behaviours. In this paper, however, the authors present and review studies (from 1981 to 2003) that focus on positive factors and behaviours, and, as a result, paint a more hopeful future for these children.

In reviewing the studies featured in "Resilient Children of Parents Affected by a Dependency", the authors highlight the characteristics and experiences that seem to support successful adaptation into society despite difficult personal and socio-economic circumstances often related to parent alcoholism, drug dependence or pathological gambling. The studies include children from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds and experiences as well as age-groups. The authors analyse the studies on resilience in children within the context of moderating, compensatory and risk factors and discuss their strengths and weaknesses in their design and in their findings. The authors also compare similarities and differences between the studies thereby showing which studies and findings corroborate or contradict each other.

Additionally, the authors discuss intervention programs and strategies that are already in place, as well as provide recommendations for future research and policy development.