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

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 mater...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in psychology Vol. 10; p. 577
Main Authors Frigerio, Alessandra, Porreca, Alessio, Simonelli, Alessandra, Nazzari, Sarah
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 18.03.2019
Subjects
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary: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. 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). 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. If the current findings are replicated, they might have significant implications for selecting targets of early mother-infant interventions.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Edited by: Ilaria Grazzani, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
This article was submitted to Developmental Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
Reviewed by: Elena Ierardi, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy; Marcella Caputi, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00577