This chapter discusses the research pertaining to six different types of risks, and addresses these risks in the context of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems theory. It examines the following environmental risks directly related to the child: demographic characteristics; parenting practices, attitudes, and beliefs; and maternal mental health. The risks also include home environment, as well as aspects of the child's environment that connect the child to the broader community, such as neighborhood; and a broader exposure to risk through environmental toxins. A cumulative risk model of development posits that adverse developmental outcomes can be better predicted by combinations of risk factors than by single risk factors. The chapter considers three promising avenues for future risk research: the use of statistical methods such as recursive partitioning to examine nonlinear effects, resilience or the ability of children to thrive despite the presence of risks, and the role of gene-environment interaction in understanding risk.

This chapter highlights research pertaining to children of illicit drug users or substance users. It provides an in-depth examination of how proximal and distal environmental factors for children of illicit drug users are conceptualized and measured, as well as how the understanding and methodology can be improved. The maternal-child interaction is typically assessed using coded live observations or videotaped footage. A lack of parental response to family conflict also tends to be problematic in substance-using families and maladaptive family problem-solving and avoidance of familial conflict has been associated with reinforcement of substance use behavior. Typically conflict, communication, and cohesion are assessed together using self-report measures of the overall family environment, either from the child or parent's perspective. Evidence indicates that a myriad of environmental risk and protective factors across parenting behaviors, family environment, social context, and the neighborhood play a role in determining outcomes for children of illicit drug users.