Depression and anger as risk factors underlying the relationship between maternal substance involvement and child abuse potential.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines how emotion regulation deficits in the area of anger arousal and reactivity are associated with child abuse potential in mothers with substance use and depressive disorders in order to identify targeted areas for prevention and treatment.


METHODS
A sample of 152 urban mothers was interviewed on measures of substance use, diagnosis of depression, anger arousal and reactivity, and child abuse potential.


RESULTS
Linear hierarchical regressions revealed that anger arousal and reactivity exceeded diagnostic and demographic variables in predicting maternal child abuse potential. Additionally, anger arousal and reactivity was found to be a partial mediator of the relationship between diagnostic category and child abuse potential.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings are discussed in relation to a multifaceted model of child abuse potential which broadens the existing literature to include an examination of depression and emotion regulation in order to more fully understand how substance use and child abuse potential are linked.


CONCLUSIONS
Models and approaches which help clients to manage and regulate difficult feeling states, specifically anger, could be helpful, and may be most readily applied in such populations.
Hien
Denise
D
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Subprogram, City University of New York, 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031, USA.
Cohen
Lisa R
LR
Caldeira
Nathilee A
NA
Flom
Peter
P
Wasserman
Gail
G
D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D000786:Anger; D002649:Child Abuse; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009519:New York City; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000209:etiology*