Alcohol and Drug Use

Alcohol and Drug Use by Adolescents whose Mothers Drank in Pregnancy

By Claire D. Coles, Ph.D.

Substance use by adolescents is a critical public health concern and currently a major focus of prevention and treatment. With this background, substance use by children of alcoholics and other drug usersis particulary worrisome. If your parents were alcoholics you have a four times greater risk of becoming alcoholic yourself, and cigarette smoking and other drug use highly correlated with alcohol abuse.