A substantial number of children of such families are victims of various forms of child abuse. Theduration of child abuse tends to last longer with the presence of drugdependency in the family environment. Crime and victimization data in a number of countries indicate a relatively highincidence of homicide and assault among family members. Females are mostfrequently the victims. In attempting to understand the development and consequences of the types of behaviouralcharacteristics and patterns in some families affected by addiction, it isuseful to examine interrelationships and interactions in the family, which someauthors refer to as sub-systems.
Drug abuse is an indication of dysfunction within family sub-systems.
Partners of addicted persons who remarry unconsciously seek similar personality traits in prospective partners. This is found to repeat itself over a number of remarriages. Children who have become surrogate parents in affected familiestend to develop a sensitivity for the feelings and needs of others, yet do notmanage to attain sufficient control or understanding of their own feelings. This hinders the process of successfully building up marital relationships. A child is often anxious to move out of thistype of family as quickly as possible, often establishing a relationship withthe first possible partner.