What percentage of child abuse cases involve substance abuse on the part of the parent? Are circumstances where the family is on public assistance more prevalent than families who are not in cases of child abuse or neglect?
Nobody can answer those questions. I was a police officer for thirty years and most of our work with violence involved alcohol or drugs. That would include child abuse. Many people abuse perfectly legal drugs and those rarely get counted. People on public assistance are more likely to be reported to the police than the lawyer living in a gated community.
You can't get the percentage of that case.. It's impossible.. Use and abuse of substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, and illegal drugs may begin in childhood or the teen years. Certain risk factors may increase someone's likelihood of abusing substances. Drug and alcohol addiction or abuse has many adverse effects, some of which are physiological and others that are social. Chronic use of some drugs of abuse can cause long-lasting changes in the brain, which may lead to paranoia, depression, aggression, and hallucinations, one reason why some parents that abuse substances hurt their child badly.
