Poverty and substance abuse

Poverty and substance abuse are interrelated issues that significantly impact individuals and communities. Defined by the U.S. federal government, poverty involves living in a household with income at or below a specified threshold, affecting approximately 11.6% of the U.S. population as of 2021. Those living in poverty often face daily struggles to meet basic needs, which can lead to increased stress and emotional challenges. This environment can exacerbate mental health issues, making individuals more vulnerable to substance abuse.

Factors such as inherited genetic susceptibility, learned behaviors from parents, and adverse childhood experiences contribute to the risk of developing substance abuse problems. Childhood poverty can hinder self-control and healthy socialization, further increasing these risks. While substance abuse is more prevalent among the homeless, it is crucial to note that poverty does not directly cause substance abuse; rather, both issues share common underlying factors, such as abuse, lack of support, and mental health challenges. Ultimately, while poverty can create conditions conducive to substance abuse, the relationship is complex and multifaceted, with substance abuse also capable of perpetuating cycles of poverty.

Full Article

DEFINITION: Substance abuse is thought to be closely related to living in poverty, and it is thought that substance abuse may be caused by poverty. However, no evidence exists to show that poverty per se causes substance abuse.

Poverty: Definitions and Dynamics

The US federal government defines poverty as living in a family unit with an income at or below a specified percentage of the US Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds. Under this formula, a family’s income is divided by the appropriate threshold amount. This number is then indexed by the number of family members so that the income is stated per person. In the United States, an estimated 10.6 percent of the population was living in poverty in 2024, according to the US Census Bureau.

Many low-income individuals use whatever resources they can to feed and clothe their families, including borrowing money from their children or parents and pawning anything of value. People experiencing poverty tend to provide for their families on a day-to-day or weekly basis. They often lack the funds to purchase food in advance or pay their bills. In some low-income homes, there is no money to provide three meals a day, and children may go to school without breakfast and return home to no dinner.

Some low-income individuals lack the skills to obtain high-level jobs, or they are unemployed, underemployed, or inconsistently employed. Some parents, particularly single parents, may work more than one minimum-wage job. As a result, they may leave their children with inadequate caregivers or with the oldest child in charge.

Children in low-income households are often forced to grow up early. Frequently, they are denied the childhoods of their peers, which extends into adolescence. Children from low-income families may not perceive much need for education, and they may drop out of high school or enter the workforce after high school rather than attend college or vocational training.

Emotional and physical abuse can occur in low-income households because inadequate finances can lead a person to express anger and frustration by harming family members. Child abuse can lead to low self-esteem and depression for the abuser and the survivors. Abusive behaviors are frequently transmitted from generation to generation, unless an adult gains insight and breaks the pattern. Both adults and children are likely to feel hopeless in such situations. Children in low-income homes are more likely to be neglected than their peers in higher-income households.

People living in poverty represent people from all racial and ethnic groups, although according to the US Census Bureau, US poverty rates are disproportionately higher among Black and Hispanic people, with 17.9 percent and 16.6 percent of those populations living in poverty, respectively, in 2023. The poverty rate was the lowest among White and Asian people, at 9.7 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively, in 2023. Mental disorders are more common among individuals experiencing poverty, as living in the stressful environment of a low-income household makes it more statistically likely for a person to develop a mental disorder. Additionally, having a mental disorder can make it more difficult for a person to maintain a job, financial stability, and proper medical care. Poverty may last for a short period of time, or it may continue for the long term. This depends on the reason for the poverty. For example, a student may technically be below the poverty line while attending school.

People experiencing homelessness are a subgroup of individuals experiencing poverty, and their incomes, financial reserves, and family members are often unknown. Accurate counts of unhoused people are not available, as census workers may not be able to count them because they often limit their social exposure.

Substance Abuse Risk Factors

Many factors can put a person at risk for substance use disorder. In addition to one's genetic susceptibility to substance misuse, addiction can be a learned behavior. Children tend to perceive their parents’ behavior as the norm, and if a parent abuses a substance, their children are more likely to adopt this behavior. A study by Duke University in 2013 found several important connections between poverty in childhood and the eventual development of substance abuse behaviors. Researchers found that childhood poverty does not typically support the development of self-control. This lack of self-control can lead to eventual substance abuse. However, while the study found that children experiencing poverty are more likely to smoke cigarettes, they are no more likely than high-income children to smoke marijuana and are less likely to binge-drink.

Substance abuse is more common in persons with certain mental illnesses, particularly personality disorders, schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder. Certain personality traits can also lead to substance abuse. Some people are said to have an addictive personality. These persons may be aggressive, thrill-seeking, and rebellious, or they may have low self-esteem. Other personality characteristics thought to lead to substance abuse are impulsiveness, poor ability to deal with stress, lack of goals, and having psychological problems.

Factors in the home can also lead to substance abuse. These factors include living in a home that is not cared for or maintained, having parents who are not nurturing, and having parents who distance themselves from their children. Children and adults who are physically, psychologically, or sexually abused in the home are also at an increased risk for substance abuse. Some research indicates that children from low-income households are significantly more likely to experience maltreatment than their peers of higher socioeconomic status. These factors can lead to a lack of confidence and low self-esteem, which puts children and adults at risk for developing substance abuse problems. How a child is socialized to relate to other people can also put a child at risk for substance abuse. The behaviors most commonly associated with substance abuse are poor skills at relating to others, shyness, aggression, involvement with a negative peer group, poor achievement in school, and perceived approval for abusing substances.

Because of the nature of drugs of addiction, it is not possible to simply “try” a drug such as opioids or heroin. These drugs make permanent changes in the brain. Some drugs act like neurotransmitters, which are chemicals in the brain that connect nerve cells and transmit nerve impulses, and they can disrupt the brain’s normal communication patterns. Most drugs of addiction stimulate the production of large amounts of dopamine in the brain, leading to feelings of euphoria. Ongoing use of addictive drugs leads to decreased production of dopamine and a decreased number of dopamine receptors in the brain. As a result, the person needs to continue taking the drug to feel good and needs to take increasingly larger amounts of the drug. Consequently, taking a drug of addiction as an experiment can lead to addiction.

Substance abuse is most common in men. Other risk factors include insecure attachment to parents or other childhood caregivers, difficulty in school, and exposure to chronic stressors. Having multiple risk factors, as often occurs with poverty, drastically increases an individual's chances of problems in adolescence and adulthood; however, these risks can be offset by protective factors such as proper nutrition and exercise, strong parental bond and consistency, school readiness, and healthy peer socialization.

Substance abuse is also more prevalent among people experiencing homelessness than in the general population. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in the early 2020s, about 16 percent of unhoused individuals reported having a substance use disorder. Mental health problems are also more common in this group; SAMHSA reported that 21 percent of people experiencing homelessness had a serious mental illness, and many often have little social support from family members or partners.

Does Poverty Cause Substance Abuse?

No clear evidence shows that poverty causes substance abuse. Most of the problems that are thought to characterize low-income individuals and that might lead to substance abuse can also lead to substance abuse in persons with middle- and upper-class backgrounds. These problems include adult and child abuse, hopelessness, parents who abuse substances, low-level job skills, lack of community involvement, feelings of alienation from the rest of society, mental health problems, lack of personal goals, and unemployment.

It does appear, however, that substance abuse can lead to poverty. A person with a substance use disorder is more likely to lose their job and to spend what money they have on drugs or alcohol. Multiple studies have determined that poverty is a risk factor for opioid overdoses, and homelessness has also been associated with such overdoses, especially among veterans.


Bibliography

Anakwenze, Ujunwa, and Daniyal Zuberi. "Mental Health and Poverty in the Inner City." Health & Social Work, vol. 38, no. 3, 2013, pp. 147–57.

Bernhardt, Christina, and Christian King. “Neighborhood Disadvantage and Prescription Drug Misuse in Low-Income Urban Mothers.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence, vol. 231, 2022, doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109245. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Correa, Ginni, and Deorah Nagel. "Addiction and Low-Income Americans." Addiction Center, 15 Oct. 2025, www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/low-income-americans. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Grinspoon, Peter. "Poverty, Homelessness, and Social Stigma Make Addiction More Deadly." Harvard Health Publishing, 28 Sept. 2021, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/poverty-homelessness-and-social-stigma-make-addiction-more-deadly-202109282602. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Kerr, Peter. “Rich vs. Poor: Drug Patterns Are Diverging.” The New York Times, 30 Aug. 1987, www.nytimes.com/1987/08/30/us/rich-vs-poor-drug-patterns-are-diverging.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Manhica, Hélio, et al. “Association between Poverty Exposure during Childhood and Adolescence, and Drug Use Disorders and Drug-Related Crimes Later in Life.” Addiction, vol. 116, no. 7, 2021, pp. 1747–56, doi:10.1111/add.15336. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Patrick, Megan E., et al. “Socioeconomic Status and Substance Use among Young Adults: A Comparison across Constructs and Drugs.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 73, no. 5, 2012, pp. 772–82, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3410945. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

"Poverty and Marginalization Remains Key Factors for Substance Use." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 17 Feb. 2022, www.unodc.org/unodc/listen-first/success-stories/2022/february/poverty-and-marginalization-remains-key-factors-for-substance-use.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Shrider, Emily A. "Poverty in the United States: 2024." United States Census Bureau, 9 Sept. 2025, www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-287.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Shrider, Emily A. "Poverty in the United States: 2023." United States Census Bureau, 10 Sept. 2024, www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-283.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

"Substance Use Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults." Duke Health, 7 Nov. 2025, www.dukehealth.org/treatments/child-psychiatry/substance-use-disorder-children-and-teens. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Thompson, Ronald G., Jr., et al. "Substance-Use Disorders and Poverty As Prospective Predictors of First-Time Homelessness in the United States." American Journal of Public Health, vol. 103 Suppl 2, 2013, pp. S282–88, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.301302. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Full Article

DEFINITION: Substance abuse is thought to be closely related to living in poverty, and it is thought that substance abuse may be caused by poverty. However, no evidence exists to show that poverty per se causes substance abuse.

Poverty: Definitions and Dynamics

The US federal government defines poverty as living in a family unit with an income at or below a specified percentage of the US Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds. Under this formula, a family’s income is divided by the appropriate threshold amount. This number is then indexed by the number of family members so that the income is stated per person. In the United States, an estimated 10.6 percent of the population was living in poverty in 2024, according to the US Census Bureau.

Many low-income individuals use whatever resources they can to feed and clothe their families, including borrowing money from their children or parents and pawning anything of value. People experiencing poverty tend to provide for their families on a day-to-day or weekly basis. They often lack the funds to purchase food in advance or pay their bills. In some low-income homes, there is no money to provide three meals a day, and children may go to school without breakfast and return home to no dinner.

Some low-income individuals lack the skills to obtain high-level jobs, or they are unemployed, underemployed, or inconsistently employed. Some parents, particularly single parents, may work more than one minimum-wage job. As a result, they may leave their children with inadequate caregivers or with the oldest child in charge.

Children in low-income households are often forced to grow up early. Frequently, they are denied the childhoods of their peers, which extends into adolescence. Children from low-income families may not perceive much need for education, and they may drop out of high school or enter the workforce after high school rather than attend college or vocational training.

Emotional and physical abuse can occur in low-income households because inadequate finances can lead a person to express anger and frustration by harming family members. Child abuse can lead to low self-esteem and depression for the abuser and the survivors. Abusive behaviors are frequently transmitted from generation to generation, unless an adult gains insight and breaks the pattern. Both adults and children are likely to feel hopeless in such situations. Children in low-income homes are more likely to be neglected than their peers in higher-income households.

People living in poverty represent people from all racial and ethnic groups, although according to the US Census Bureau, US poverty rates are disproportionately higher among Black and Hispanic people, with 17.9 percent and 16.6 percent of those populations living in poverty, respectively, in 2023. The poverty rate was the lowest among White and Asian people, at 9.7 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively, in 2023. Mental disorders are more common among individuals experiencing poverty, as living in the stressful environment of a low-income household makes it more statistically likely for a person to develop a mental disorder. Additionally, having a mental disorder can make it more difficult for a person to maintain a job, financial stability, and proper medical care. Poverty may last for a short period of time, or it may continue for the long term. This depends on the reason for the poverty. For example, a student may technically be below the poverty line while attending school.

People experiencing homelessness are a subgroup of individuals experiencing poverty, and their incomes, financial reserves, and family members are often unknown. Accurate counts of unhoused people are not available, as census workers may not be able to count them because they often limit their social exposure.

Substance Abuse Risk Factors

Many factors can put a person at risk for substance use disorder. In addition to one's genetic susceptibility to substance misuse, addiction can be a learned behavior. Children tend to perceive their parents’ behavior as the norm, and if a parent abuses a substance, their children are more likely to adopt this behavior. A study by Duke University in 2013 found several important connections between poverty in childhood and the eventual development of substance abuse behaviors. Researchers found that childhood poverty does not typically support the development of self-control. This lack of self-control can lead to eventual substance abuse. However, while the study found that children experiencing poverty are more likely to smoke cigarettes, they are no more likely than high-income children to smoke marijuana and are less likely to binge-drink.

Substance abuse is more common in persons with certain mental illnesses, particularly personality disorders, schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder. Certain personality traits can also lead to substance abuse. Some people are said to have an addictive personality. These persons may be aggressive, thrill-seeking, and rebellious, or they may have low self-esteem. Other personality characteristics thought to lead to substance abuse are impulsiveness, poor ability to deal with stress, lack of goals, and having psychological problems.

Factors in the home can also lead to substance abuse. These factors include living in a home that is not cared for or maintained, having parents who are not nurturing, and having parents who distance themselves from their children. Children and adults who are physically, psychologically, or sexually abused in the home are also at an increased risk for substance abuse. Some research indicates that children from low-income households are significantly more likely to experience maltreatment than their peers of higher socioeconomic status. These factors can lead to a lack of confidence and low self-esteem, which puts children and adults at risk for developing substance abuse problems. How a child is socialized to relate to other people can also put a child at risk for substance abuse. The behaviors most commonly associated with substance abuse are poor skills at relating to others, shyness, aggression, involvement with a negative peer group, poor achievement in school, and perceived approval for abusing substances.

Because of the nature of drugs of addiction, it is not possible to simply “try” a drug such as opioids or heroin. These drugs make permanent changes in the brain. Some drugs act like neurotransmitters, which are chemicals in the brain that connect nerve cells and transmit nerve impulses, and they can disrupt the brain’s normal communication patterns. Most drugs of addiction stimulate the production of large amounts of dopamine in the brain, leading to feelings of euphoria. Ongoing use of addictive drugs leads to decreased production of dopamine and a decreased number of dopamine receptors in the brain. As a result, the person needs to continue taking the drug to feel good and needs to take increasingly larger amounts of the drug. Consequently, taking a drug of addiction as an experiment can lead to addiction.

Substance abuse is most common in men. Other risk factors include insecure attachment to parents or other childhood caregivers, difficulty in school, and exposure to chronic stressors. Having multiple risk factors, as often occurs with poverty, drastically increases an individual's chances of problems in adolescence and adulthood; however, these risks can be offset by protective factors such as proper nutrition and exercise, strong parental bond and consistency, school readiness, and healthy peer socialization.

Substance abuse is also more prevalent among people experiencing homelessness than in the general population. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in the early 2020s, about 16 percent of unhoused individuals reported having a substance use disorder. Mental health problems are also more common in this group; SAMHSA reported that 21 percent of people experiencing homelessness had a serious mental illness, and many often have little social support from family members or partners.

Does Poverty Cause Substance Abuse?

No clear evidence shows that poverty causes substance abuse. Most of the problems that are thought to characterize low-income individuals and that might lead to substance abuse can also lead to substance abuse in persons with middle- and upper-class backgrounds. These problems include adult and child abuse, hopelessness, parents who abuse substances, low-level job skills, lack of community involvement, feelings of alienation from the rest of society, mental health problems, lack of personal goals, and unemployment.

It does appear, however, that substance abuse can lead to poverty. A person with a substance use disorder is more likely to lose their job and to spend what money they have on drugs or alcohol. Multiple studies have determined that poverty is a risk factor for opioid overdoses, and homelessness has also been associated with such overdoses, especially among veterans.


Bibliography

Anakwenze, Ujunwa, and Daniyal Zuberi. "Mental Health and Poverty in the Inner City." Health & Social Work, vol. 38, no. 3, 2013, pp. 147–57.

Bernhardt, Christina, and Christian King. “Neighborhood Disadvantage and Prescription Drug Misuse in Low-Income Urban Mothers.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence, vol. 231, 2022, doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109245. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Correa, Ginni, and Deorah Nagel. "Addiction and Low-Income Americans." Addiction Center, 15 Oct. 2025, www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/low-income-americans. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Grinspoon, Peter. "Poverty, Homelessness, and Social Stigma Make Addiction More Deadly." Harvard Health Publishing, 28 Sept. 2021, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/poverty-homelessness-and-social-stigma-make-addiction-more-deadly-202109282602. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Kerr, Peter. “Rich vs. Poor: Drug Patterns Are Diverging.” The New York Times, 30 Aug. 1987, www.nytimes.com/1987/08/30/us/rich-vs-poor-drug-patterns-are-diverging.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Manhica, Hélio, et al. “Association between Poverty Exposure during Childhood and Adolescence, and Drug Use Disorders and Drug-Related Crimes Later in Life.” Addiction, vol. 116, no. 7, 2021, pp. 1747–56, doi:10.1111/add.15336. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Patrick, Megan E., et al. “Socioeconomic Status and Substance Use among Young Adults: A Comparison across Constructs and Drugs.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 73, no. 5, 2012, pp. 772–82, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3410945. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

"Poverty and Marginalization Remains Key Factors for Substance Use." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 17 Feb. 2022, www.unodc.org/unodc/listen-first/success-stories/2022/february/poverty-and-marginalization-remains-key-factors-for-substance-use.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Shrider, Emily A. "Poverty in the United States: 2024." United States Census Bureau, 9 Sept. 2025, www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-287.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Shrider, Emily A. "Poverty in the United States: 2023." United States Census Bureau, 10 Sept. 2024, www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-283.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

"Substance Use Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults." Duke Health, 7 Nov. 2025, www.dukehealth.org/treatments/child-psychiatry/substance-use-disorder-children-and-teens. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

Thompson, Ronald G., Jr., et al. "Substance-Use Disorders and Poverty As Prospective Predictors of First-Time Homelessness in the United States." American Journal of Public Health, vol. 103 Suppl 2, 2013, pp. S282–88, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.301302. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

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