Mark Houston Recovery

ADHD Kids at Greater Risk for Alcoholism in Adulthood

A study published in the latest April edition of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research show that kids with ADHD are at higher risk of becoming alcoholics than those without.

Researchers believe that there are a few reasons why this may be the case including:

• Impulsivity and distractibility
• A history of school failure and behavioral problems
• Parents of ADHD kids may feel more stress and turn to alcohol to relieve stress

This study brings up a good point to parents of all children—ADHD or not. Parent’s can have a major influence in preventing future substance abuse by teaching kids how to handle life challenges in a healthy way.

Throughout life, all kids have to learn how to handle impulsive thoughts, failure, and stress. Parents can turn these challenging experiences into opportunities to teach their children positive coping skills and techniques rather than allowing them to figure out how to deal with them on their own.

When children learn to see failure as an opportunity to learn a valuable lesson rather than a reason to self destruct, they carry this perception throughout their lives and have fewer reasons to run away from their problems.

Children are sponges and model themselves after what they see us do. If they hear you say “I am so stressed out – I need a drink!” they learn that drinking is a way to cope with stress. Having a drink at home may not necessarily send a poor message, but the verbal or non verbal messages you’re sending as to the reason why you’re drinking may be teaching them lessons you’d rather not pass on.

As much as we’d love to protect them from the world, kids will face conflict throughout their childhood and into adulthood. It’s never too early to begin talking to kids about how to handle challenges in a way that is productive and leading by example along the way.

It’s a lot easier to instill these behaviors at an early age than it is to have to unlearn destructive coping behaviors later in life. A good portion of what we do in our treatment center involves introducing new ways to view and react to situations.

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