Emotional Availability in substance abusing mothers and early interactions with their babies

Substance abuse during pregnancy constitutes a major risk factor for the dyad, influencing not only mother and child’s health, but also early regulatory abilities, quality of parenting and later development. Despite the amount of studies on the effects of prenatal drug-exposure, outcomes are still inconsistent. The current study aimed at evaluating dyadic Emotional Availability within a group of substance-using mothers in rehabilitation and their children. 12 mother-child dyads were videotaped each 3 months for a year while interacting together in different settings (i.e. free play and semi-structured play). The quality of mother-child interactions was assessed using the Emotional Availability Scales (Biringen, 2008). Results highlight partially adequate emotional exchanges, suggesting that, despite the presence of difficulties at some levels, these dyads seem able to share positive moments as well. Comparison between settings did not show statistically significant differences, even though suggesting a slightly better performance during free play. These findings seem to suggest that difficulties often linked to prenatal substance-exposure and to maternal addiction could lead to different developmental pathways and, at the same time, could be buffered by the presence of protective factors such as rehabilitative programs.