Parental involvement in the management of drug abuse crisis among children and youth in Kenya

Abstract

The World Drug Report 2019 shows that in 2017, an estimated 271 million people, or 5.5 per cent of the global population aged 15–64, had used drugs in the previous year and that the drug problem had reached crisis level. The report indicated that the crisis affected young people irrespective of gender. Substance use in early age leads to many negative outcomes in adulthood including compromised work efficiency, poor family relationships and disrupted educational achievement. Though drug abuse is a major concern worldwide, the strategies adopted to address it do not succeed when they don’t factor the range of factors that impact young people’s lives, key among them parental involvement. Parental involvement refers to the amount of participation a parent has when it comes to a child’s life. Research has shown that parents play a major role in preventing substance abuse among children and youth, including those who have initiated drug use. This paper is a desktop review of research and reports on parental involvement and its impact on management of drug and substance abuse (DSA) among children and youth with a view to making recommendations to address the problem. The paper concludes that parental monitoring and supervision of their children’s friendships are critical for DSA prevention. It thus recommends that parents should set rules for their children’s activities and monitor their friends as well as social engagement to ensure appropriate behavior and reduce chances of involvement in drug and substance abuse. law, trade in counterfeit alcohol brands that is not properly regulated, devolution of alcohol control function, litigations against the Act, and inadequate knowledge concerning the law.