Jag berusar mig på kärlek - en kvalitativ studie om vuxna barn till missbrukare

ABSTRACT Author: Kristina Gräns, Maria Taylor. Title: Jag berusar mig på kärlek - en kvalitativ studie om vuxna barn till missbrukare Supervisor: Arne Kristiansen Assessor: Staffan Blomberg The aim of this study was to from a salutogenic perspective bring forward and present possible reasons why certain children survive against the odds, even though they have grown up in a riskfilled enviroment, with parents suffering from addiction. With this study we have looked into locating factors that could lay behind their success in maintaining health and furthermore the possibility of negative experiences being able to be turned around and used in a positive way, in the long run. We have used a qualitative method and held interviews with seven adults, previous children of addicts. It was clear that their childhood has later affected their adult lives. We found that negative experiences earlier in life do not necessarily lead to problems later in life. It has even shown to provide advantages of having lived a difficult childhood. Advantages such as personal development, increased awareness and self confidence, sense of responsibility, sympathy and understanding towards others. Our theory has included SOC (Sense of Coherence), resilience and coping. Keywords: addiction, children, KASAM, resilience, copin