Kids inherit drug, alcohol habits from parents

A new study has revealed that kids can inherit drug and alcohol abuse habits from their parents.

According to a study by Sam Houston State University, when compared to parents who did not use substances, parents who used alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs were significantly more likely to have children who used those same drugs.

It was also found that the odds of children's alcohol use were five times higher if their parents used alcohol, while the odds of children's marijuana use were two times higher if their parents used marijuana and the odds of children's other drug use were two times higher if their parent used other drugs.

Dr. Kelly Knight of the College Criminal Justice's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology said that there is an intergenerational relationship between substance use of parents and their children.

She said that the effect is not as strong as one might believe from popular discourse, but when it is measured by developmental stage, it can provide important information on its impact in adolescence and early adulthood, specifically.

The study helps pinpoint the use of different illicit substances over the span of a lifetime, including its emergence in adolescence and when that use may decline.