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Millions of US children have parents with substance use disorder, and the consequences are staggering − new research

 

Alcohol is the most common substance misused by parents. igorr1/iStock via Getty Images Plus

About 1 in 4 U.S. children – nearly 19 million – have at least one parent with substance use disorder. This includes parents who misuse alcohol, marijuana, prescription opioids or illegal drugs. Our estimate reflects an increase of over 2 million children since 2020 and an increase of 10 million from an earlier estimate using data from 2009 to 2014.

Those are the key findings from a new study my colleagues and I published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

To arrive at this estimate, our team used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2023, the most recently released year of data. Nearly 57,000 people ages 12 and up responded.

Why it matters

As a researcher who studies substance use in adolescents and young adults, I know these children are at considerable risk for the disorder, and other mental health issues, such as behavioral problems and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Substance use disorder is a psychiatric condition marked by frequent and heavy substance use. The disorder is characterized by numerous symptoms, including behaviors such as driving while intoxicated and fights with family and friends over substance use.

This disorder also affects a parent’s ability to be an attentive and loving caregiver. Children of these parents are more likely to be exposed to violence, initiate substance use at a younger age, be less prepared for school and enter the child welfare system. They are also more likely to have mental health problems both as children and as adults, and they have a much higher chance of developing a substance use disorder in adulthood.

Despite the new study’s findings, mental health programs for children at risk could be cut.

Of the 19 million children, our study found about 3.5 million live with a parent who has multiple substance use disorders. More than 6 million have a parent with both a substance use disorder and significant symptoms of depression, anxiety or both. Alcohol is by far the most common substance used, with 12.5 million children affected.

Our 19 million estimate is significantly larger than an earlier estimate based on older data. That study, which reviewed data from 2009 to 2014, indicated that 8.7 million U.S. children – or roughly 1 in 8 – lived with a parent, or parents, with substance use disorder. That’s a difference of about 10 million children.

This happened primarily because between the time of the two studies – from 2014 to 2023 – the criteria for diagnosing someone with substance use disorder became broader and more inclusive. That change alone accounted for more than an 80% jump in the estimate of children affected by parental substance use disorder. There was also a further increase of 2 million in the number of affected children since 2020, which reflects the rising number of parents with a substance use disorder.

What’s next

There is a critical need to better identify parents with substance use disorder and the children who are affected by it. In my experience, many pediatric clinicians screen children for substance use, but they are much less likely to screen accompanying parents. So the first step is to make such screenings common and expected for both children and their adult caregivers.

But that is not the case now. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an expert panel that recommends screening and prevention best practices for clinicians, does not yet recommend such a screening for children, although that could help direct those in need to treatment and prevent the worst outcomes from substance use disorder.

Additional intervention, which requires funding, is needed from federal, state and local government. This may seem fanciful in an age of scrutinized government budgets. But the alternative is a bill that comes due later: millions of adults exposed to this disorder at an early age, only to struggle decades later with their own substance use and mental health problems.

The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.The Conversation

Ty Schepis, Professor of Psychology, Texas State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Written by: Ty Schepis, Texas State University

Over 300 firefighting and law enforcement graduates add to state’s public safety force

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New Cal Fire Academy graduates. Courtesy photo.

 

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Highway Patrol are celebrating the graduation of hundreds of new firefighters, correctional officers and highway patrol officers who join their colleagues in communities statewide to protect the state of California.

“Thank you for answering the call to serve our great state. As you go back to your communities, may you face any uncertainty with resolve, any challenges with integrity, and any hardships with determination,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Enhancing the state’s firefighting fleet

Cal Fire celebrated 38 new Company Officer Academy graduates. These leaders will supervise and direct firefighters as Cal Fire Company Officers.

The academy offers extensive training in emergency and daily personnel management, physical conditioning, wildland and structural incident command, fire investigation, and the operation of fire vehicles, encompassing driving, pumping, and specialized wildland gear.

“Graduations are a time to come together with family, friends, and coworkers to celebrate the hard work our Company Officers have put in over the past six weeks. These women and men represent the next generation of leadership at Cal Fire. I am very proud of their accomplishment and wish them the best as they return home to their new roles,” said Cal Fire Chief/Director Joe Tyler.

This cohort brings the total number of Company Officer Academy graduates in 2025 to 272, highlighting CAL FIRE’s continued investment in leadership development and operational readiness.

In addition to this program, 42 students have successfully completed the Emergency Command Center Academy so far this year, further strengthening CAL FIRE’s ability to respond quickly and effectively to emergencies across California.

This graduating class brings the total number of Company Officers employed by CAL FIRE to over 4,150.

 

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Basic Correctional Officer Academy graduates. Courtesy photo.

 

Protecting our communities

Following an intensive 13-week program at the Basic Correctional Officer Academy 168 cadets graduated, embarking on their new careers as CDCR correctional officers.

“It takes a special kind of person to wear the badge, the sacrifices and dedication of our families cannot be overstated. Our future success is dependent upon your professionalism, respect, and commitment to excellence,” said CDCR Secretary Jeff Macomber.

Including these graduates, CDCR will have 601 graduates this year, marking a significant step forward in CDCR’s ongoing efforts and focus on recruitment, hiring, promotion, retention and culture through collaboration of diverse and qualified candidates. Following their graduation, officers serve in institutions throughout California.

With these graduates, there are a total of nearly 21,500 correctional officers at 31 adult institutions statewide.

 

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The latest class of California Highway Patrol graduates. Courtesy photo.

 

Patrolling our streets and highways

The CHP welcomed 133 new officers who completed 26 weeks of rigorous training at the CHP Academy in West Sacramento. The officers now report to one of the CHP’s 102 Area offices across California to begin their law enforcement careers.

Academy cadets receive training in areas such as traffic enforcement, collision investigation, defensive tactics, firearms, emergency vehicle operations, community policing, legal responsibilities, communication, ethics, and cultural awareness to prepare them for serving California's diverse population.

“This graduation marks the beginning of a commitment to protecting and serving others. These officers have demonstrated their dedication to keeping California’s communities safe and upholding the CHP’s core values,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee.

Nearly 300 cadets continue training at the West Sacramento facility, and another 160 are scheduled to begin instruction on June 9 as part of the department’s ongoing efforts to strengthen public safety statewide.

So far, the CHP has sworn in 364 officers in 2025 with this graduating class. There are a total of nearly 7,000 CHP officers statewide protecting our roadways.

Join the state today

California offers diverse job opportunities with comprehensive benefits for those dedicated to providing essential services to millions of Californians. To learn more, please visit the California Department of Human Resources.

Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS

Space News: Landing on the Moon is an incredibly difficult feat − 2025 has brought successes and shortfalls for companies and space agencies

 

Several missions have already attempted to land on the lunar surface in 2025, with more to come. AP Photo

Half a century after the Apollo astronauts left the last bootprints in lunar dust, the Moon has once again become a destination of fierce ambition and delicate engineering.

This time, it’s not just superpowers racing to plant flags, but also private companies, multinational partnerships and robotic scouts aiming to unlock the Moon’s secrets and lay the groundwork for future human return.

So far in 2025, lunar exploration has surged forward. Several notable missions have launched toward or landed on the Moon. Each has navigated the long journey through space and the even trickier descent to the Moon’s surface or into orbit with varying degrees of success. Together, these missions reflect both the promise and difficulty of returning to the Moon in this new space race defined by innovation, competition and collaboration.

As an aerospace engineer specializing in guidance, navigation and control technologies, I’m deeply interested in how each mission – whether successful or not – adds to scientists’ collective understanding. These missions can help engineers learn to navigate the complexities of space, operate in hostile lunar environments and steadily advance toward a sustainable human presence on the Moon.

Why is landing on the Moon so hard?

Lunar exploration remains one of the most technically demanding frontiers in modern spaceflight. Choosing a landing site involves complex trade-offs between scientific interest, terrain safety and Sun exposure.

The lunar south pole is an especially attractive area, as it could contain water in the form of ice in shadowed craters, a critical resource for future missions. Other sites may hold clues about volcanic activity on the Moon or the solar system’s early history.

Each mission trajectory must be calculated with precision to make sure the craft arrives and descends at the right time and place. Engineers must account for the Moon’s constantly changing position in its orbit around Earth, the timing of launch windows and the gravitational forces acting on the spacecraft throughout its journey.

They also need to carefully plan the spacecraft’s path so that it arrives at the right angle and speed for a safe approach. Even small miscalculations early on can lead to major errors in landing location – or a missed opportunity entirely.

Once on the surface, the landers need to survive extreme swings in temperature – from highs over 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) in daylight down to lows of -208 F (-133 C) at night – as well as dust, radiation and delayed communication with Earth. The spacecraft’s power systems, heat control, landing legs and communication links must all function perfectly. Meanwhile, these landers must avoid hazardous terrain and rely on sunlight to power their instruments and recharge their batteries.

These challenges help explain why many landers have crashed or experienced partial failures, even though the technology has come a long way since the Apollo era.

Commercial companies face the same technical hurdles as government agencies but often with tighter budgets, smaller teams and less heritage hardware. Unlike government missions, which can draw on decades of institutional experience and infrastructure, many commercial lunar efforts are navigating these challenges for the first time.

Successful landings and hard lessons for CLPS

Several lunar missions launched this year belong to NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. CLPS is an initiative that contracts private companies to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon. Its aim is to accelerate exploration while lowering costs and encouraging commercial innovation.

An illustration of a lander, which looks like a mechanical box with small suport legs, on the lunar surface.
An artist’s rendering of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander, which navigated and avoided hazards during its final descent to the surface. NASA/GSFC/Rani Gran/Wikimedia Commons

The first Moon mission of 2025, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, launched in January and successfully landed in early March.

The lander survived the harsh lunar day and transmitted data for nearly two weeks before losing power during the freezing lunar night – a typical operational limit for most unheated lunar landers.

Blue Ghost demonstrated how commercial landers can shoulder critical parts of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon later this decade.

The second CLPS launch of the year, Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission, launched in late February. It targeted a scientifically intriguing site near the Moon’s south pole region.

An illustration of a lander, a rectangular machine on triangular legs, on the lunar surface.
An artist’s rendering of Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission, which is scheduled to land near the lunar south pole for in-situ resource utilization demonstration on the Moon. NASA/Intuitive Machines

The Nova-C lander, named Athena, touched down on March 6 close to the south pole. However, during the landing process, Athena tipped over. Since it landed on its side in a crater with uneven terrain, it couldn’t deploy its solar panels to generate power, which ended the mission early.

While Athena’s tipped-over landing meant it couldn’t do all the scientific explorations it had planned, the data it returned is still valuable for understanding how future landers can avoid similar fates on the rugged polar terrain.

Not all lunar missions need to land. NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, a small lunar orbiter launched in February alongside IM-2, was intended to orbit the Moon and map the form, abundance and distribution of water in the form of ice, especially in shadowed craters near the poles.

Shortly after launch, however, NASA lost contact with the spacecraft. Engineers suspect the spacecraft may have experienced a power issue, potentially leaving its batteries depleted.

NASA is continuing recovery efforts, hoping that the spacecraft’s solar panels may recharge in May and June.

An illustration of Lunar Trailblazer, which looks like a mechanical box with two solar panel wings.
An artist’s rendering of NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft. If recovered, it will orbit the Moon to measure the form and distribution of water on the lunar surface. Lockheed Martin Space

Ongoing and future missions

Launched on the same day as the Blue Ghost mission in January, Japanese company ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission 2 (Resilience) is on its way to the Moon and has successfully entered lunar orbit.

The lander carried out a successful flyby of the Moon on Feb. 15, with an expected landing in early June. Although launched at the same time, Resilience took a longer trajectory than Blue Ghost to save energy. This maneuver also allowed the spacecraft to collect bonus science observations while looping around the Moon.

The mission, if successful, will advance Japan’s commercial space sector and prove an important comeback for ispace after its first lunar lander crashed during its final descent in 2023.

A lander – which looks like a large box with metal sides – on a platform in a white room.
The Resilience lunar lander days before its launch in the payload processing facility at the U.S. Space Force station. The Resilience lander has completed its Earth orbit and a lunar flyby. It is now completing a low-energy transfer orbit and entering an orbit around the Moon. Business Wire

The rest of 2025 promises a busy lunar calendar. Intuitive Machines plans to launch IM-3 in late 2025 to test more advanced instruments and potentially deliver NASA scientific experiments to the Moon.

The European Space Agency’s Lunar Pathfinder will establish a dedicated lunar communications satellite, making it easier for future missions, especially those operating on the far side or poles, to stay in touch with Earth.

Meanwhile, Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission-1 is scheduled to deliver NASA’s VIPER rover to the Moon’s south pole, where it will directly search for ice beneath the surface.

Together, these missions represent an increasingly international and commercial approach to lunar science and exploration.

As the world turns its attention to the Moon, every mission – whether triumph or setback – brings humanity closer to a permanent return to our closest celestial neighbor.The Conversation

Zhenbo Wang, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Tennessee

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Written by: Zhenbo Wang, University of Tennessee

Thompson, Matsui, local experts sound the alarm on devastating impacts of congressional Republicans' budget bill

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Rep. Thompson and Rep. Matsui listen to testimony from a local expert on Friday, May 30, 2025. Courtesy photo.

 

On Friday, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) and Rep. Doris Matsui (CA-07) held a forum featuring testimony from local public safety experts, tax law experts, and health care providers to discuss how Congressional Republicans’ latest budget bill will impact Sacramento metro region residents.

Congressional Republicans’ bill, which passed the House of Representatives this month, will slash health care coverage for nearly 14 million people, cut nutrition benefits for nearly 11 million people, and raise energy costs for families by $110 per year in order to hand a tax break to the ultra-wealthy.

“Simply put, this bill is a bad deal for the American people,” said Thompson. “My Republican colleagues are paying for these huge tax breaks for the wealthy by stripping health care away from nearly 14 million Americans, taking food assistance from 11 million people, and cutting green energy investments responsible for our manufacturing boom. This will add $5 trillion to our national debt and will impact everyone in our community. Hospitals and clinics will be forced to reduce services or shut down altogether, local food banks will have fewer resources, and families will pay more for their energy bills. This is unacceptable.”

“Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill is a disaster — targeting the most vulnerable among us to give tax breaks to the richest Americans,” said Matsui. “This bill rips away health care and nutrition assistance from millions of Americans and will have devastating consequences here in our region. That’s why we gathered a panel of local experts to explain exactly what is at stake for our communities. Programs like Medicaid and SNAP are lifelines – they allow our loved ones, friends, and neighbors to live healthy and fulfilling lives with dignity and independence. With the health and future of our constituents at risk, we will not back down. This battle is far from over.”

Representatives Thompson and Matsui were joined by local experts testifying to the negative impacts of this bill. Panelists included Dr. Darien Shanske, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis; Chief Chris Costamagna of the Sacramento Fire Department; Dr. Erika Roshanravan, Medical Director for CommuniCare+OLE; Kate Laddish, Medicaid beneficiary and Chair of Yolo County In-Home Supportive Services’ Advisory Committee; Diana Flores, Executive of Director Nutrition Services, Central Kitchen and Distribution Services for Sacramento City Unified School District; and Jessica Bartholow, Director of Government Relations for SEIU California.

H.R. 1 passed the House of Representatives 215-214 in May. Every Democrat and two Republicans voted "No." Now, it is under consideration in the Senate.

Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS

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