Family interaction as perceived by drug abusers

This study aims to describe and analyze the perception of rehabilitated drug abusers regarding their family interaction during drug use, specifically, their parent-parent interaction, parent-child interaction, and sibling-sibling interaction. A descriptive design was used wherein the family interaction of drug abusers was defined, classified, and analyzed. This study employed purposive sampling in selecting its subjects. These subjects were procured through the help of a rehabilitation center and referrals and were subjected to an in-depth interview by the researchers. The results of this study show that drug abusers generally have negative family interaction. Their parents communicate poorly, lack trust, and spend limited time with each other. They have frequent arguments but these only involve verbal outbursts. The communication of abusers with their parents is also mostly limited to arguments and these include physical violence in the father-child conflict. Furthermore, parents are usually poor role models for their children. Abusers also have minimum interaction with their siblings who usually live separately from them. Their relationship is characterized by the lack of a sibling bond. Siblings also assume roles in the formation of the dysfunctional family.