The effect of parenting stress on child behavior problems in high-risk children with prenatal drug exposure
Daniel M Bagner, Stephen J Sheinkopf, Cynthia Miller-Loncar, Linda L LaGasse, Barry M Lester, Jing Liu, Charles R Bauer, Seetha Shankaran, Henrietta Bada, Abhik Das, Daniel M Bagner, Stephen J Sheinkopf, Cynthia Miller-Loncar, Linda L LaGasse, Barry M Lester, Jing Liu, Charles R Bauer, Seetha Shankaran, Henrietta Bada, Abhik Das
Abstract
Objective: To examine the relationship between early parenting stress and later child behavior in a high-risk sample and measure the effect of drug exposure on the relationship between parenting stress and child behavior.
Methods: A subset of child-caregiver dyads (n=607) were selected from the Maternal Lifestyle Study (MLS), which is a large sample of children (n=1,388) with prenatal cocaine exposure and a comparison sample unexposed to cocaine. Of the 607 dyads, 221 were prenatally exposed to cocaine and 386 were unexposed to cocaine. Selection was based on the presence of a stable caregiver at 4 and 36 months with no evidence of change in caregiver between those time points.
Results: Parenting stress at 4 months significantly predicted child externalizing behavior at 36 months. These relations were unaffected by cocaine exposure suggesting the relationship between parenting stress and behavioral outcome exists for high-risk children regardless of drug exposure history.
Conclusions: These results extend the findings of the relationship between parenting stress and child behavior to a sample of high-risk children with prenatal drug exposure. Implications for outcome and treatment are discussed.
Source: PubMed