Substance abuse and fathering: adding poppa to the research agenda

FRANÇAIS :
Les auteurs demandent à la recherche d'améliorer la compréhension du rôle de la paternité dans l'abus de drogues, à travers les cultures, en répondant aux questions suivantes : quel est le nombre de pères usagers de drogues ? quel est le schéma de reproduction d'une génération à l'autre ?, de quelle façon l'usage de drogues compromet la paternité et comment cette défaillance affecte le père usager et le développement de ses enfants ? et, enfin, comment peut-on diminuer les risques associés à un usage de drogues parternel ? Article complété par les réponses et commentaires de plusieurs chercheurs sur les questions soulevées par les auteurs.
ENGLISH :
Although a number of socioeconomic forces have converged across cultures to make fathering one of the more prominent social issues of the new millennium, the status of substance-abusing men as fathers is rarely acknowledged in the conceptualization of public policy, service delivery or research focusing on the adverse consequences of drug and alcohol abuse. In this commentary, the authors call for the substance abuse research community to expand understanding of fathering occurring across cultures in the context of chronic substance abuse. Building upon research being undertaken with other populations of fathers, the authors argue there is need to clarify (a) the number of substance-abusing fathers, (b)patterns of reproduction among substance-abusing men, (c) ways in which substance abuse contributes to compromise of fathering. (d) ways in which compromise of fathering contributes to psychological distress in substance-abusing men, (e) ways in which compromise of fathering affects developmental outcomes for children, and (f) ways in which clinical and preventive intervention might be used to minimize the harm associated with paternal substance abuse. (Author' s abstract)