{"id":399722,"date":"2019-11-18T16:17:04","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T21:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=399722"},"modified":"2019-12-02T12:15:31","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T17:15:31","slug":"when-do-alcohol-dependent-mothers-parent-harshly-399722","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/when-do-alcohol-dependent-mothers-parent-harshly-399722\/","title":{"rendered":"When do alcohol-dependent mothers parent harshly?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not surprisingly, parents with substance use disorders often struggle with parenting and frequently have strained relationships with their children. Moreover, research has solidly demonstrated that the children of these parents are more likely to develop behavioral problems, antisocial behavior, aggression, mood disorders, anxiety, and later use substances themselves.<\/p>\n

For those who treat affected families, however, the findings have left a lot of questions unanswered.<\/p>\n

First, while parents with substance use disorders are more likely to treat their children harshly, they don\u2019t do so all the time. What are the triggers?<\/p>\n

Second, how can substance-dependent mothers and their medical care providers predict difficulties across challenging parenting contexts?<\/p>\n

Greater insight into these questions is critical, given the prevalence of alcohol dependency and its harmful effects on child development. Roughly one in eight children in the US lives with a parent who struggles with a substance use disorder. Specifically, alcohol dependence among mothers of childrearing age has been steadily increasing. Research has shown that the effects of alcohol are exaggerated among women, causing reduced stress tolerance and interfering with many of the complex cognitive processes needed for sensitive and supportive parenting.<\/p>\n

The triggers of harsh parenting<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A new study<\/a> by a team of University of Rochester<\/a> and University of Minnesota<\/a> psychologists, published in the journal\u00a0Development and Psychopathology<\/em>, makes considerable progress towards answering both questions.<\/p>\n

Lead author Debrielle Jacques<\/a>, a Rochester doctoral student in psychology, observed mothers and their children in two contexts: during free play and during a cleanup task. Coders then rated each of the mothers\u2019 interactions on a nine-point scale measuring the degree of harshness. (The researchers also collected observations about the child\u2019s temperament through another set of experiments, and assessed the mother\u2019s alcohol dependence with the help of a widely-used diagnostic interview schedule.) The study focused on mostly ethnic minority, low-income families, following a high-risk sample of 201 moms with their two-year-old children over a one-year period, observing behaviors during nine separate visits to a research laboratory.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the course of a one-year period, harsh parenting among non-alcohol dependent mothers\u00a0decreased<\/em>\u00a0by 36 percent, while it\u00a0increased<\/em>\u00a0by about 9 percent for alcohol-dependent mothers.\u201d<\/div>\n

What exactly is harsh parenting? As the researchers define it, it can include nonverbal communication, such as angry or contemptuous facial expressions and menacing or threatening body postures; emotional expression, such as irritability, lack of patience and sensitivity, sarcastic comments, and curt answers; or rejection, such as actively ignoring the child, showing contempt or disgust for the child or the child\u2019s behavior, or denying the child\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

Jacques and her co-authors\u2014Rochester psychology professors Melissa Sturge-Apple<\/a> and Patrick Davies<\/a>, and Dante Cicchetti<\/a>, a professor and the research director at the University of Minnesota\u2019s Institute of Child Development, found that:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Alcohol-dependent mothers act more harshly when disciplining, but not when playing with their child.<\/li>\n
  2. Alcohol-dependent mothers used harsher discipline when their child is highly frustrated, but not when their child is sad or fearful.<\/li>\n
  3. A child\u2019s temperament plays a direct role in how mothers react: when children express intense negative emotions such as defiance and anger, or aggressive traits, mothers are more likely to react harshly.<\/li>\n
  4. A mother\u2019s alcohol dependence is a significant predictor of harsh parenting over time\u2014well above other parenting risk factors, such as mental disorders, the mother\u2019s age, and family income. Specifically, harsh parenting among non-alcohol-dependent mothers decreased<\/em>\u00a0by 36 percent over the one-year study period; however, among alcohol-dependent mothers harsh parenting\u00a0increased<\/em>\u00a0by about 9 percent during that same time.<\/li>\n
  5. Mothers with greater psychological-behavioral difficulties stemming from alcohol impairment\u2014who also have children with higher levels of negative emotions, behaviors, and characteristics\u2014show higher levels of harsh parenting over time. Mothers with alcohol-related impairments were approximately 66 percent more likely to become harsher over time compared to mothers without alcohol-related impairments.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"a
    The incidence of harsh parenting is highest for mothers with significant alcohol-related impairments whose children show high levels of frustration, anger, or aggression. (University of Rochester graphic \/ Stephen Dow)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Debrielle Jacques, doctoral student in the Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Sturge-Apple, who serves as Jacques\u2019 doctoral advisor and is a Rochester vice provost<\/a> and University dean of\u00a0graduate education<\/strong><\/a>, observes that alcohol dependence \u201cmay disrupt the cognitive-emotional processes that regulate a parent\u2019s response to a child who is behaving in a challenging or difficult manner. That\u2019s why it can be difficult for alcohol-dependent mothers to respond to angry and demanding children with noncoercive strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Jacques points out that during the cleanup task, the mother is faced with the primary goal to get the child to listen; but often children won\u2019t listen and instead respond in their own temperamental ways.<\/p>\n

    \u201cNow, she also has to combat the way the child is responding to her\u2014posing an additional demand. For moms who have a lot of alcohol-related impairments, we know that they find parenting stressful anyway, which makes this a kind of triple stresser,\u201d says Jacques.<\/p>\n

    The team hopes their study will shed light on the unique parenting challenges faced by black and Hispanic mothers who suffer from alcohol-related issues\u2014\u201ca particularly vulnerable group that has been missing from the research spotlight,\u201d notes Jacques, who identifies as Latina and whose research focuses on high-risk, ethnic-minority mothers. According to Jacques these women often come to motherhood with higher levels of underlying trauma. \u201cThese women might have experienced, even from an earlier age, higher rates of sexual abuse, emotional, or physical abuse\u2014trauma that we may not see at these rates in white women.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Because few studies have focused on mothers from these minority backgrounds, resources have not been tailored to their specific needs and struggles as parents, the team says. That\u2019s why the researchers see their study as a significant first step not only in understanding when<\/em> and why<\/em> these mothers behave harshly, but also how<\/em> to help them improve interactions with their children and ultimately become better parents.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt\u2019s important to look at how alcohol-dependent mothers operate in different caregiving situations. Because if you are doing a caregiving intervention you need to know which specific situations to target,\u201d says Jacques.<\/p>\n

    The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, awarded to co-authors Davies and Cicchetti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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