EMOTIONAL AVAILABILITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CORRELATES AMONG MOTHERS IN SUBSTANCE-ABUSE TREATMENT AND THEIR YOUNG INFANTS

摘要

Emotional availability (EA) was investigated among low-income mothers enrolled insubstance-abuse treatment and their young infants (n = 21) compared with a demographically matchedgroup of mother-infant pairs who, by self-report, were not at risk for substance abuse (n = 27). Themother-infant dyads in the treatment group generally demonstrated poorer EA functioning than those inthe comparison group, but few differences between the groups on individual dimensions of EA were sig-nificant. This finding was notable considering that mothers in treatment reported significantly higher levelsof depressive symptoms and psychological stress. Treatment effects may have buffered the negative impactof depression and psychological stress on mothers' EA scores. The clinical implications of the findings arediscussed as they relate to substance-abuse-treatment services for pregnant and parenting women.