"Cocaine Abuse, Self-Regulation and Maternal/Child Aggression"

(funded by NIDA ROI)

Substance abuse in women has cascading consequences for their children in a variety of ways. Chief among these are child-rearing deficits (e.g., lack of empathic involvement, poor monitoring, parent-child conflicts and use of harsh discipline) and child abuse/neglect. These child-rearing deficits are associated with adverse consequences for children, including deficits in self-regulation, aggressive and delinquent behaviors, and substance use.

We know very little about how maternal crack/cocaine abuse leads to parenting deficits, abuse or neglect and whether there are additional risks for offspring associated with maternal substance use, above and beyond the adverse impact of such parenting deficits.

One intervening factor that might provide more information about the origins of such parenting deficits and the risks they confer on children is cognitive and emotional self-regulation. Findings from our own preliminary studies on emotional self-regulation (ER) in crack/cocaine-using women provide evidence that deficits in ER may be one mediator of the relationships between crack/cocaine use and parenting deficits.

Our current NIDA funded investigation applies a cross-generational, developmental-biopsychosocial framework which will allow examination of associations between maternal crack/cocaine use, neuropsychological deficits in self-regulation, and vulnerability for child-rearing deficits in all mothers, and adverse child outcomes in their pre/early adolescent children (ages 9-15).

Our study introduces an exploratory model which considers the relationships and pathways between a triad of maternal impairments (Triad A: crack/cocaine use disorders, general psychopathology, and cognitive/emotional self-regulation deficits), a second triad of child-rearing deficits (Triad B: parenting, child neglect, and child physical/sexual abuse), and a third triad of adverse child outcomes (Triad C: child self-regulation deficits, aggressive/ delinquent behaviors, and substance use). We expect that maternal impairments (Triad A) will predict adverse child outcomes (Triad C). We also expect that maternal impairments (Triad A) will predict child-rearing deficits (Triad B), which in turn will predict adverse child outcomes (Triad C).

This cross-sectional case-control study will compare three groups of low-income urban mothers (crack/cocaine-using, depressed, and substance-and mental disorder-free controls) and their pre/early adolescent children.

We are also in the process of submitting a proposal that will allow us to extend this study to include children of younger ages.

To date, the following dissertations and presentations have been generated from this data set.

Click here for a list of dissertations and presentationsfrom this study.