Child maltreatment, parent alcohol and drug-related problems, polydrug problems, and parenting practices: a test of gender differences and four theoretical perspectives.
The authors tested how adverse childhood experiences (child maltreatment and parent alcohol- and drug-related problems) and adult polydrug use (as a mediator) predict poor parenting in a community sample (237 mothers and 81 fathers). These relationships were framed within several theoretical perspectives, including observational learning, impaired functioning, self-medication, and parentification-pseudomaturity. Structural models revealed that child maltreatment predicted poor parenting practices among mothers. Parent alcohol- and drug-related problems had an indirect detrimental influence on mothers' parenting and practices through self-drug problems. Among fathers, emotional neglect experienced as a child predicted lack of parental warmth more parental neglect, and sexual abuse experienced as a child predicted a rejecting style of parenting.
Department of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles, 90095-1563, USA. doclocke@adelphia.net
Thomas F
TF
Locke
Michael
M
Newcomb
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting; D011582:Psychological Theory; D017678:Sex Distribution; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires