"Separation" of the mother-child couple: pregnancy and maternity of drug-dependent women.
Children of drug addicts are at risk of neglect and scanty maternal care. The objective of the present study was to identify homogeneous subgroups within a sample of drug addicted women, according to the quality of the outcome of the mother-child relationship. A group of 13 opiate-addicted women, followed from the seventh month of pregnancy up until the child was 2 years of age, underwent psychometric evaluation and was subdivided into two distinct groups based on whether the child remained within the family nucleus or was entrusted to a foster family or institution. The psychometric instrument used, an adaptation of Osgood's semantic differential which investigates maternal representations, allowed us to identify items with a very high predictability for the outcome of the mother-child relationship.
Conte
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GL
Department of Psychiatry (Drug and Alcohol Dependence Unit), Università Cattolica del S Cuore, Roma, Italy.
Mazzoni
S
S
Serretti
A
A
Fundarò
C
C
Tempesta
E
E
D000328:Adult; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009294:Narcotics; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012659:Semantic Differential; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*
D009294:Narcotics