Abstract:
This thesis uses a qualitative approach to explore how young people in New Zealand experience having a sibling who has engaged in problematic substance use. The research involved interviews with 24 young people, aged between 17 and 30 years, who have a sibling who has engaged in problematic substance use. These interviews were analysed using thematic analysis, focusing on the impacts of the substance use on the participants and their families, as well as participants’ perspectives on families’, services’ and communities’ responses to the substance use.
The young people described the siblings’ substance use contributing to worry and fear for their siblings, families and themselves, changes within family relationships and impacting their own choices around substance use. They spoke of the challenges that families face in responding to problematic substance use, including the complexity of providing appropriate boundaries, supporting young people’s autonomy, and proactively responding to the substance use without becoming overly focused on the substance-using sibling. With respect to supports for the family, participants talked about the importance of services, other young people and the broader community in enabling the family to have people to talk to and get advice from, to feel understood, and to help their sibling have purpose beyond substance use. They also spoke of how siblings’ substance use and their potential for changing this was influenced by the environment.
The findings suggest that when working with young people who are engaging in problematic substance use, it is important to remember the wider family, and siblings in particular. Siblings not only have the potential to be impacted by this experience, but also to be an important source of insight regarding how families and other systems can respond to young people’s substance use.
