Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use by Women in the Illinois Welfare System

• NCJ Number: 169087
• Author(s): M Bruni; S Gillespie
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 35 pages
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; Illinois Dept of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This study, a joint effort of the Illinois Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse and the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), examined alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse (ATODA) and the need for treatment among adults involved with the child welfare system in Cook County, Illinois.

Abstract

The specific purpose of the study was to obtain data on the relationships between ATODA and child abuse and neglect. Data were collected from personal interviews with 101 parents who had open DCFS cases. ATODA prevalence rates were calculated for lifetime, past year, and past month use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, hallucinogens, cocaine, and heroin. Results were also compared to findings of a 1994 adult household survey of the general Illinois population. Results showed respondents in the DCFS sample were more than three times as likely to be recent smokers than Cook County women in the household survey sample. Nearly half of DCFS women had used alcohol in the past month, while less than one-third of women in the household survey reported drinking in the month prior to the interview. About 24 percent of DCFS women had used marijuana in the month prior to the interview, about 65 percent reported using cocaine in their lifetime, and about 47 percent claimed to have used cocaine in the past year. While less than 0.5 percent of women in the household survey reported using cocaine in the last month, over one in five women in the DCFS sample reported using cocaine in the 30 days prior to the interview. Fewer women in the DCFS sample reported using heroin in the past month, compared to women who reported using marijuana or cocaine. Among DCFS women who used heroin in the past 18 months, however, nearly 60 percent reported using heroin on 100 or more occasions. About 47 percent of DCFS women were in need of treatment, compared to only about 4 percent of adult women in the general Cook County population. Approximately 21 percent of DCFS women reported using illicit drugs in front of their children, and nearly half reported alcohol and other drug use was the main reason for their current DCFS involvement. 6 references, 10 tables, and 3 figures