Family structure and past-30 day opioid misuse among justice-involved children

Abstract

Background: To prevent opioid-related overdose among high risk youth, research on the predictors of opioid misuse (OM) initiation among justice-involved children (JIC) is needed. Living in a single-parent household, an important adverse childhood experience, is prevalent among JIC and linked to substance abuse. It is hypothesized that JIC who live in single-parent households will have a higher likelihood of meeting criteria for past-30 day OM than those who live in two-parent households. Methods: The data in this paper were obtained from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FLDJJ). Cross-sectional data on 79,960 JIC from FLDJJ were examined. To test the hypothesis, multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed. Results: Over 2,000 JIC in the sample met criteria for past-30 day (P30D) OM. Over 27.1% of those who met criteria for past-30 day OM lived in a two-parent household while 21.3% of those who were non-past-30 day users lived in two-parent households. Contrary to our hypothesis, JIC who lived in grandparent-only households were 28% as likely to report P30D OM as those who lived in single-parent households. Those who lived in two-parent households were 16% as likely to meet criteria for P30D OM as those in single-parent households. These relationships varied by age. Conclusion: Two-parent and grandparent-only households maybe associated with increased access to opioids compared to other family structures with fewer adults. The risk of increased access may be more harmful than the strain of a single-parent household. Disposal of prescription medication initiatives should target households with multiple adults and grandparents.

Keywords:

• Opioid misuse
• family structure
• juvenile justice
• justice-involved children
• drug abuse

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the NIDA T32 training grant at the UF Substance Abuse Training Center in Public Health from the National Institutes of Health under award number T32DA035167 (Dr. Linda B. Cottler, PI) and by Dr. Micah E. Johnson. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.