Emotional Availability in Samples of Mothers at High Risk for Depression and With Substance Use Disorder

Abstract

Background: Maternal substance use disorder (SUD) and depression have been extensively associated with dysfunctions in parent-child interactions. However, few studies have compared caregiving behaviors of these mothers. The current study aims to explore maternal emotional availability (EA) in mothers with maternal SUD and depressive symptoms in order to investigate whether these conditions represent a different risk gradient for early parenting.Methods: Mother-infant relationship was investigated in 18 mothers with SUD, 11 mothers at risk for depression, and 39 mothers from general population. The dyads were videotaped during a free-play session and the quality of parent-child interactions was assessed using the EA Scales (EAS) and the Emotional Attachment and EA Clinical Screener (EA2-CS).Results: Mothers with SUD scored lower on sensitivity, non-intrusiveness, and non-hostility with respect to the low-risk sample, whereas mothers at risk for depression scored lower on sensitivity and non-hostility compared to the latter. No significant differences between mothers with SUD and mothers at risk for depression emerged on the EAS, whereas different specific classifications on the EA Clinical Screener were found for the SUD (i.e., Complicated), depression (i.e., Detached), and low-risk (i.e., Emotionally Available) samples.Conclusion: If the current findings are replicated, they might have significant implications for selecting targets of early mother-infant interventions.

A mother–child intervention program for adolescent mothers: Results from a randomized controlled trial (the TeeMo study)

“…Regarding demographic risk factors, the current sample of adolescent mother–child dyads is comparable to previously studied high-risk adolescent mother–child dyads (Jaffee et al, 2001; Lounds, Borkowski, & Whitman, 2006). With respect to the primary outcomes before the start of the intervention, only 7.3% of the mothers were rated as sensitive while interacting with their child and only 7.3% of their children were rated as responsive towards their mothers, which is comparable to other high-risk groups (Frigerio, Porreca, Simonelli, & Nazzari, 2019). Further, these findings are in line with previous studies showing that adolescent mothers are less sensitive and show more intrusive and hostile interactive behaviors compared with adult mothers (Krpan et al, 2005; Lee, 2009; Madigan, Moran, & Pederson, 2006).…”

Maternal Alexithymic Traits Are Related to Lower Maternal Sensitivity and Higher Hostility in Maternal Caregiving Behavior—The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

“…It should also be acknowledged that hostility as a concept includes a wide range of hostile behaviors from concealed hostility to openly hostile responses (Biringen et al, 2014). Previous studies indicate that mothers with a history of depressive symptoms tend to present with hostile caregiving behavior more often than healthy controls (Sellers et al, 2014), as is also the case among mothers at high risk of developing postpartum depression (Frigerio et al, 2019). Alexithymic traits and higher risk of depressive symptoms are linked together with relatively strong evidence from the literature (e.g., Honkalampi et al, 2000;Kajanoja et al, 2017).…”

Neurobiological Implications of Parent–Child Emotional Availability: A Review

“…The pre-EA measure has similarities to previous work on prenatal attachment; however, the pre-EA is an observational measure about the mother in interaction with her unborn baby, in contrast to prenatal attachment measures that are typically self-reported [32,33]. As numerous studies have examined postpartum or early postnatal EA to two months of age, it would also be a beneficial addition to incorporate further study of EA during pregnancy [42][43][44].…”