Background

Maternal prenatal substance use disorder (SUD) represents a dual risk for child wellbeing due to teratogenic impacts and parenting problems often inherent in SUD. One potential mechanism transferring this risk is altered development of children's emotion regulation (ER). The present study examines how mother's prenatal SUD and early mother-infant interaction quality predict children's ER in middle childhood.

Method

The participants were 52 polysubstance using mothers and 50 non-users and their children. First-year mother-infant interaction quality was assessed with the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales and children's ER with the Children's Emotion Management Scales (CEMS), and its parent version (P-CEMS) at 8–12 years.

Results

Mother's prenatal SUD predicted a low level of children's adaptive ER strategies, whereas early mother-infant interaction problems predicted a high level of emotion dysregulation. The dyadic interaction also mediated the effect of SUD on emotion dysregulation. In the SUD group, more severe substance use predicted high emotion inhibition.

Conclusion

Early mother-infant interaction quality is critical in shaping children's ER, also in middle-childhood. Interventions aimed for mothers with prenatal SUD should integrate parenting components to support the optimal development of multiply vulnerable children.

中文翻译：

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母亲物质使用障碍预测儿童中期情绪调节：早期母婴互动的作用

背景

孕产妇产前物质使用障碍 (SUD) 对儿童的健康构成双重风险，这是由于 SUD 通常固有的致畸影响和养育问题。转移这种风险的一个潜在机制是改变儿童情绪调节 (ER) 的发展。本研究探讨母亲的产前 SUD 和早期母婴互动质量如何预测儿童中期的 ER。

方法

参与者是 52 名使用复合物质的母亲和 50 名非使用者及其子女。使用情绪可用性 (EA) 量表和儿童 ER 使用儿童情绪管理量表 (CEMS) 及其父母版本 (P-CEMS) 在 8-12 岁时评估第一年母婴互动质量。

结果

母亲的产前 SUD 预示着儿童的适应性 ER 策略水平较低，而早期母婴互动问题则预示着情绪失调的水平较高。二元相互作用也介导了 SUD 对情绪失调的影响。在 SUD 组中，更严重的物质使用预示着高度的情绪抑制。

结论

早期母婴互动质量对于塑造儿童的 ER 至关重要，在儿童中期也是如此。针对产前 SUD 母亲的干预措施应整合育儿内容，以支持多重脆弱儿童的最佳发育。