Associations between parenting representations and behavior among young mothers and mothers with opioid use disorder

Maternal Childhood Maltreatment, Internal Working Models, and Perinatal Substance Use: Is There a Role for Hyperkatifeia? A Systematic Review

The parent-infant relationship is critical for socioemotional development and is adversely impacted by perinatal substance use. This systematic review posits that the mechanisms underlying these risks to mother-infant relationships center on 3 primary processes: (1) mothers' childhood maltreatment experiences; (2) attachment styles and consequent internal working models of interpersonal relationships; and (3) perinatal substance use. Further, the review considers the role of hyperkatifeia, or hypersensitivity to negative affect which occurs when people with substance use disorders are not using substances, and which drives the negative reinforcement in addiction. The authors performed a systematic review of articles (published 2000-2022) related to these constructs and their impact on mother-infant relationships and offspring outcomes, including original clinical research articles addressing relationships between these constructs, and excluding case studies, reviews, non-human animal studies, intervention studies, studies with fewer than 30% female-sex participants, clinical guidelines, studies limited to obstetric outcomes, mechanistic/biological studies, and studies with methodological issues precluding interpretation. Overall 1844 articles were screened, 377 were selected for full text review, and data were extracted from 157 articles. Results revealed strong relationships between mothers' childhood maltreatment experiences, less optimal internal working models, and increased risk for perinatal substance use, and importantly, all of these predictors interacted with hyperkatifeia and exerted a marked impact on mother-infant relationships with less data available on offspring outcomes. These data strongly support the need for future studies addressing the additive impact of maternal childhood maltreatment experiences, suboptimal internal working models, and perinatal substance use, with hyperkatifeia as a potential moderator, and their interacting effects on mother-infant socioemotional outcomes.

Impact of Parental Representations and Related Parenting Behavior On Children

Parental representations tend to be formed in the prenatal period and affect the child- parent relationship in the long term. Therefore, in the clinical environment, it is important to define parents’ representations to increase the success of therapeutic interventions and prevent childhood psychopathologies with various intervention programs. With this concern, the aim of this review was to summarize the literature about parental representations and their relationship between parenting behavior, and childhood developmental problems. Related to this purpose, this review includes the definition and categories of parental representations, the factors which contribute to parental representations, and the relations between parenting and childhood developmental problems.

Parenting Among Women in Methadone Treatment: Contributions of Mental Health Problems and Violence Exposure

The aim of the current study is to explore factors associated with quality of parenting among women in treatment for opioid use disorders. 150 Black American women with 3-5 year old children were recruited through methadone treatment programs. Parenting representations were assessed through the Working Model of the Child Interview and parenting behavior through video recordings of mother-child interaction. Interviews were used to assess mothers' history of violence exposure and to make DSM diagnoses. Mothers' mood disorder was related to distorted representations and to expressions of concerned affect (anxiety, fear, guilt). Mothers' personality disorder was related to expressions of negative affect (anger and frustration) and inversely related to sensitive parenting behavior. Mothers' experience of family violence during childhood and partner violence during adulthood were related to concerned affect in their representations. Women in treatment for substance use disorder have complex and interconnected needs, including parenting supports and trauma-informed mental health services.