Children of injection drug users: Impact of parental HIV status, AIDS, anddepression

We investigated the association between parental factors (including infecti on with human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], acquired immunodeficiency syndr ome [AIDS] diagnosis, parental medical illness, and depression) and childre n's behavioral and emotional problems among children of injection drug user s (IDUs). IDUs were recruited through community outreach. The sample includ ed 73 parents of 73 children, aged 4 to 12 years. Parental depression (odds ratio [OR] = 4.61) and medical illness (OR = 4.70) were found to be signif icantly associated with internalizing (depressive and anxiety-related sympt oms), but not with externalizing (aggressive and disruptive behaviors) symp toms in the children of IDUs. The clinical implications are that children o f IDUs are known to be at high risk for psychiatric symptoms and disorders; these data suggest that children of depressed and/or medically ill IDU par ents may be at even higher risk of internalizing symptoms (depression and a nxiety symptoms) than children of IDUs who do not suffer from these conditi ons.