What is the relationship between poverty and substance abuse?

Poverty: Definitions and Dynamics

Living in poverty is defined by the US federal government as living in a family unit with an income that is at or under a specified percentage of the US Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds. With this formula, a family’s income is divided by the appropriate threshold amount. This number is then indexed by the number of family members, so that the income is stated per person. In the United States, an estimated 14.8 percent of the population was living in poverty in 2014 according to the US Census Bureau.

Many of the poor live their days trying to survive. The poor often use whatever resources they can muster to feed and clothe their family members. This may include borrowing money from their children or elderly parents and pawning anything of value. The poor tend to provide for their family one day at a time. They often do not have the money to purchase food in advance or to pay their bills. In some poor homes, there is no money to provide three meals a day, and poor children are often sent to school without breakfast and return home to no dinner.

Some poor people lack the skills to obtain a high-level job, or they are unemployed, underemployed, or inconsistently employed. Some poor parents, particularly single parents, may work more than one minimum-wage job. As a result, they may leave their children with inadequate caregivers, or with the oldest child in charge.

Children of the poor are forced to grow up early. Frequently, they are denied the childhood of their peers that extends into the teenage years. Children of the poor may not see much need for education, and they may drop out of high school or get a job after high school rather than going to college or a training school.

Emotional and physical abuse is thought to be common among the poor. Inadequate finances can lead a person to show his or her anger and frustration by harming family members. According to the American Humane Association, children who grow up in a household with an income of $15,000 or less are twenty-two times more likely to be abused than those in households with a $30,000 income or higher. This type of abuse can lead to low self-esteem and depression for the abuser and the abused. Abuse behaviors are frequently passed from generation to generation, unless an adult gains insight and is able to break the pattern. Both adults and children are likely to feel hopeless in this type of situation.

The poor are represented in all groups of society. Those living in poverty represent people from all racial and ethnic groups, although according to the US Census Bureau, US poverty rates are highest among black and Hispanic people, with 27 percent and 23 percent of those populations living in poverty, respectively. The poverty rate is the lowest among Caucasian and Asian people. Mental disorders are more common in the poor, as living in the stressful environment of a low-income house makes it more statistically likely for a person to develop a mental disorder. Additionally, having a mental disorder can make it more difficult for a person to maintain a job, financial stability, and proper medical care. Poverty may last for a short period of time, or it may continue for the long term. This depends on the reason for the poverty. For example, a student may be poor while attending school.

The homeless are a subgroup of the poor, and their incomes, financial reserves, and family members are often unknown. Accurate counts of the homeless are not available, as census workers may not be able to count them because they often tend to limit their social exposure.

Substance Abuse Risk Factors

Many factors can put a person at risk for substance abuse. It is thought that there may be an inherited genetic susceptibility for abusing drugs. In the absence of an inherited susceptibility, it is likely that substance abuse is passed from generation to generation as a learned behavior. Children tend to perceive their parents’ behavior as the norm, and if a parent abuses a substance, his or her children are likely to abuse as well. A study by Duke Medicine at Duke University in 2013 found several important connections between poverty in childhood and the eventual development of substance abuse behaviors. Researchers found that poverty in childhood does not typically allow for the development of good self-control. This lack of self-control can lead to eventual substance abuse. However, while the study found that poor children are more likely to develop cigarette-smoking habits, they are no more likely than wealthier children to smoke marijuana, and less likely to binge drink.

Substance abuse is more common in persons with certain mental illnesses, particularly personality disorders, schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder. Certain personality traits also can lead to substance abuse. Some persons are said to have an addictive personality. These persons may be aggressive, thrill-seeking, and rebellious, or they may have low self-esteem. Other personality characteristics thought to lead to substance abuse are impulsiveness, poor ability to deal with stress, lacking goals, and having psychological problems.

Factors in the home also can lead to substance abuse. These factors include living in a home that is not cared for or maintained, having parents who are not nurturing, and having parents who distance themselves from their children. Children and adults who are physically, psychologically, or sexually abused in the home are also at an increased risk for substance abuse. Children from poor households are 25 percent more likely to be the victims of abuse than their peers of higher socioeconomic status. These factors can lead to lack of confidence and low self-esteem, which put children and adults at risk for developing substance abuse problems. How a child is socialized to relate to other people also can put a child at risk for substance abuse. The behaviors most commonly associated with substance abuse are poor skills at relating to others, shyness, aggression, involvement with a negative peer group, poor achievement in school, and perceived approval for abusing substances.

Because of the nature of drugs of addiction, it is not possible to simply “try” a drug such as crack cocaine or heroin. These drugs make permanent changes in the brain. Some drugs act like neurotransmitters, which are chemicals in the brain that connect nerve cells and transmit nerve impulses, and they can disrupt the brain’s normal communication patterns. Most drugs of addiction stimulate the production of large amounts of dopamine in the brain, leading to feelings of euphoria. Ongoing use of addicting drugs leads to decreased production of dopamine and a decreased number of dopamine receptors in the brain. As a result, the person needs to continue taking the drug to feel good and needs to take increasingly larger amounts of the drug. Consequently, taking a drug of addiction as an experiment can lead to addiction.

Substance abuse is most common in men between the ages of eighteen and forty-four years. Substance abusers are likely to be unmarried and in a lower socioeconomic group. People living in the western part of the United States are more likely to be substance abusers.

The homeless have the highest incidence of substance abuse. It is estimated that about 50 percent of the homeless are substance abusers. Mental health problems are extremely common in this group, and they often have little social support from family members or partners.

Does Poverty Cause Substance Abuse?

No clear evidence shows that poverty causes substance abuse. Most of the problems that are thought to characterize the poor and that might lead to substance abuse can also lead to substance abuse in persons with middle- and upper-class backgrounds. These problems include adult and child abuse, hopelessness, parents who abuse substances, low-level job skills, lack of community involvement, feelings of being alienated from the rest of society, mental health problems, lack of personal goals, and unemployment.

It does appear, however, that substance abuse can lead to poverty. A substance abuser is more likely to lose his or her job and to spend what money he or she has on drugs or alcohol.

Bibliography

Anakwenze, Ujunwa1, and Daniyal Zuberi. "Mental Health and Poverty in the Inner City." Health & Social Work 38.3 (2013):
147–57. Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 9 Sept. 2014.

"Current Statistics on the Prevalence and Characteristics of People Experiencing Homelessness in the United States." Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Admin., July 2011. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.

Duke Medicine News and Communications. "Childhood Economic Status Affects Substance Use Among Young Adults." Duke Medicine. Duke U Health System, 30 July 2015. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

Gorski, Paul. “The Myth of the 'Culture of Poverty.'” Poverty and Learning 65.7 (2008). Education Source. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.

Kerr, Peter. “Rich vs. Poor: Drug Patterns Are Diverging.” New York Times 30 Aug. 1987. Web. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.

Thompson, Ronald G., Jr., et al. "Substance-Use Disorders and Poverty as Prospective Predictors of First-Time Homelessness in the United States." American Journal of Public Health 103.S2 (2013): S282–S288. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.