Emotionally avoidant language in the parenting interviews of substance‐dependent mothers: Associations with reflective functioning, recent substance use, and parenting behavior

Abstract

Parenting and emotion regulation are two known, and potentially interrelated, areas of impairment among substance-abusing mothers. In this study, we examine substance -abusing mothers’ (positive and negative) emotion language word use during their discussion of negative parenting experiences on the Parent Development Interview for its association with reflective functioning (RF), recent substance-use history, and sensitivity to child cues. Within a sample of 47 methadone-maintained mothers, we evaluate the hypothesis that linguistic evidence of emotional avoidance (more frequent positive feeling words and less frequent negative emotion words) will be associated with lower RF, more recent substance use, and more insensitive parenting. Further, we evaluate whether language use mediates the association between self-focused RF and insensitive parenting. Results of hierarchical regressions suggest that more frequent positive feeling word use, but not negative emotion word use, is associated with lower RF, more recent substance use, and lower sensitivity to child cues. Positive feeling word use partially mediates the association between self-focused RF and insensitive parenting. Results are discussed in the context of their contribution to the literature on emotion and parenting in substance-abusing populations.

Assessing parental empathy: a role for empathy in child attachment

“…Because children's responses to the mother and father versions were highly correlated (r = .76, p < .001) and because the current study involved parents of both genders, children's responses to the mother and father versions of the questionnaire were averaged to create a composite score of parental warmth (M = 3.37, SD = .56). Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the warmth subscale in this sample was .89, comparable to previous research (Borelli et al, 2012).…”

“…Then, a research assistant administered the PDI-R-SC with the parent in a private room. Following the interview, the parent completed a series of questionnaires, including the ECR-R (additional measures are reported in Borelli et al, 2012). During this time, a second research assistant administered the CAI with the child, after which the child completed a series of questionnaires, including the PBI-C. At the conclusion of the visit, parent and child were reunited and provided with compensation.…”

Interventions to address parenting and parental substance abuse: Conceptual and methodological considerations

“…Individual deficits in emotional regulation among parents have been shown to predict both SA and poor parenting (Borelli, West, DeCoste, & Suchman, 2012). Such deficits manifest as poor impulse control and decreased frustration tolerance as well as an inability to cope with negative emotional states in adaptive ways.…”

Parental reflective functioning: analysis and promotion of the concept for paediatric nursing

“…In addition, the enhancement of parental RF has been associated with improved parent-child relations in interventions developed for high risk mothers (Sadler et al, 2013), drug-addicted mothers (Suchman et al, 2010), and incarcerated mothers (Baradon et al, 2008; Sleed et al, 2013). Parental RF has also been described as a supportive factor for violence-exposed mothers in the formation of more balanced and integrated maternal mental representations of their children (Schechter et al, 2005), a protective factor in the development of children’s eating disorders (Rothschild-Yakar, Levy-Shiff, Fridman-Balaban, Gur, & Stein, 2010), and a facilitating factor in mothers’ sensitivity towards their child (Borelli, West, Decoste, & Suchman, 2012; Fonagy & Target, 1997). In a study by Grienenberger and colleagues (2005) that examined the relationship between maternal RF, mother-infant affective communication, and infant attachment the researchers found an inverse relationship between maternal RF and maternal-infant disruptive communication.…”