Conners-Burrow, N. A., McKelvey, L., Pemberton, J. R., Lagory, J., Mesman G.R. and L. Whiteside-Mansell (2013). Moderators of the Relationship Between Maternal Substance Abuse Symptoms and Preschool Children’s Behavioral Outcomes. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 22(8), 1120-1129.
This study evaluated harsh parenting and family conflict as potential moderators of the relationship between child externalizing behaviour problems, and symptoms of maternal substance use problems. The authors purposely focused on preschool age children in a community sample to add to a literature predominantly focused on adolescent outcomes in clinical samples. Participants were recruited from the Starting Early Starting Smart (SESS) research study, a larger study designed to test the effectiveness of integrated mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment in primary care programs. Primary caregivers participated in interviews, where questionnaires were read aloud by the research assistant to assess maternal symptoms of substance use problems (substance use creates conflict in the family, often gets individual into trouble), harsh discipline, family conflict, maternal mental health, and child externalizing behaviour. The authors hypothesized that the relationship between maternal substance use and child behaviour would be stronger when parents were experiencing conflict, or using harsh discipline tactics.
The sample included low-income parents whose preschool age children were SESS participants and enrolled in Head Start programs in rural Arkansas. Data was collected from the parents at baseline (n=250) and at a 10-month follow-up (n=195) of the study during a home interview. Children were between 3 and 5 years of age at baseline with a mean age of 44.4 months of age. In 91.6% of the cases, the biological mother was the primary caregiver. Results indicated that over one-third of the children (38.1%) had clinically elevated externalizing behaviour scores, but most fell in the ‘moderate problem’ (30.8%) rather than ‘severe problem’ (7.3%) category at 10 month follow up. T-test results demonstrated that males had significantly higher externalizing behavioural problems than females. The results indicated that symptoms of substance use problems increased the risk of child externalizing behaviours when harsh parenting was high, and the same patterns was observed for family conflict, however, the findings were not as strong. When harsh parenting and family conflict were not present, maternal symptoms of substance abuse did not appear to have a significant effect on child externalizing behaviour.
Although the results of this study are promising, there are limitations worth noting. The focus on preschool aged children does not give a clear picture on the impact of substance abuse on children’s externalizing behaviours over time. The authors also note that future studies on the trajectory of maternal substance use problems and their impact on child functioning and outcomes are needed.