Overdose deaths don’t just affect other adults; the children are hurt too.
Emily Smith-Greenaway, Dean’s professor of sociology and professor of sociology and spatial sciences at the University of Southern California Dornsife, details this growing impact.
Professor Smith-Greenaway’s research areas include demography, health, mortality, bereavement, inequality, family, and international sociology. Her research examines how social conditions impact individual and family wellbeing and experiences. Her recent work analyzes the influence of mortality conditions on family systems, the impact of child loss on family dynamics, and the consequences of community mortality conditions for women’s fertility. She also studies how social inequality influences young adults’ educational, childbearing, and marital experiences. She is the co-chair of the research sub-committee at USC Dornsife’s Center for the Changing Family
The Growing Impact of Overdose Deaths on U.S. Children
Recent research estimates that one in eight adults in the U.S. have been affected by an overdose death in their social network or family. Yet, children have been overlooked in this work, which led us to ask: How many children have lost a family member to drug overdose?
Our study found that as of 2019, over 1.4 million U.S. children had lost a family member due to overdose, with male relatives driving the the staggering number of children’s overdose loss, in line with higher male overdose mortality. More than 900 thousand children lost a father, brother, grandfather, uncle, or male cousin, compared with just over 500 thousand who lost a comparable female relative.
Particularly alarming is the growing number of younger children affected. Nearly 2% of children born in 2009 lost a relative to overdose by age 10, compared to just over 1% for those born in 2001. If past trends continue, this could rise to 5% by the time children born in 2009 turn 18.
Despite this growing crisis, the federal government does not track how many children are affected. To estimate these numbers, we combined CDC drug death data with fertility and Census data from 2000 to 2019, a period untouched by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the sharp rise in overdose deaths between 2020 and 2023, our estimates likely understate the true scale of the problem.
The loss of a family member can destabilize a child’s life, leading to long-term mental health struggles, academic challenges, and even substance abuse. Losing someone to an overdose may be even more detrimental than other types of losses, due to the sudden nature of the death and the stigma attached. These estimates emphasize the need for further programmatic support for the many children personally affected by the overdose crisis.
Read More:
[American Journal of Public Health] – More Than 1.4 Million US Children Have Lost a Family Member to Drug Overdose
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