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Child Maltreatment and Its Relationship to Drug Use in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Overview and Multinational Research Partnership

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Abstract

Child maltreatment and substance abuse are both international public health priorities. Research shows that child maltreatment increases the risk for substance use and problems. Thus, recognition of this relationship may have important implications for substance demand reduction strategies, including efforts to prevent and treat substance use and related problems. Latin America and the Caribbean is a rich and diverse region of the world with a large range of social and cultural influences. To date, relatively little work has addressed the link between child maltreatment and substance use in the region. A working group constituted by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in June, 2010 identified this area as a priority area for a multinational research partnership. This paper summarizes existing information on drug use and child maltreatment in six participating countries, Colombia, El Salvador, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama and Uruguay, and considers the implications of child maltreatment prevention for demand reduction strategies to address substance use issues. A CICAD/CAMH-sponsored multinational research partnership has been formed, which will involve research on the link between child maltreatment and substance misuse, expertise exchange and resource sharing.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for valuable input, support and encouragement from Drs. D.A. Wolf, B. Brands, N. Giesbrecht, C. Strike, L. Simich, Mr. A. Khenti, Ms. K. Lo, Mr. R. Chung and Ms. G. Stoduto. The Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada supported the work reported here. The authors acknowledge the support of their home institutions for this initiative, and Drs. Hamilton, Erickson and Mann also acknowledge ongoing funding support from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Mona, Jamaica

    Samantha Longman-Mills

  2. University of Panama, Panama City, Panama

    Yolanda W. González

  3. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, UNAN-León, León, Nicaragua

    Marlon O. Meléndez, Sobeyda J. Peñalba & Lúcia I. Solórzano

  4. Universidad de Los Llanos, Villavicencio, Colombia

    Mónica R. García

  5. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, Bogatá, Colombia

    Juan D. Gómez

  6. Universidad Evangélica de El Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador

    Cristina G. Juárez & Eduardo A. Martínez

  7. Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Miguel E. Pizzanelli

  8. Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission, Washington, DC, USA

    Gloria M. Wright & Francisco Cumsille

  9. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, Canada, M5S 2S1

    Jaime C. Sapag, Christine Wekerle, Hayley A. Hamilton, Patricia G. Erickson & Robert E. Mann

  10. McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

    Christine Wekerle

  11. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Christine Wekerle, Hayley A. Hamilton, Patricia G. Erickson & Robert E. Mann

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  1. Samantha Longman-Mills
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  2. Yolanda W. González
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  17. Robert E. Mann
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Correspondence to Robert E. Mann.

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Longman-Mills, S., González, Y.W., Meléndez, M.O. et al. Child Maltreatment and Its Relationship to Drug Use in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Overview and Multinational Research Partnership. Int J Ment Health Addiction 9, 347–364 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-011-9347-0

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