Maternal ego development and mother-infant interaction in drug-abusing women

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to expand our knowledge about factors in substance-abusing women, other than chronic drug abuse, that may influence maternal caregiving behaviors. Specifically, the study explored relationships between maternal characteristics and mother-infant interaction in a sample of drug-abusing women to determine whether drug-addicted mothers' level of ego development affected mother-infant interaction at 1 month. Data collection occurred during a prenatal lab visit and 1 month postpartum and included a clinical interview, self-report on participants' addiction severity, clinical personality inventory, ego development test, and videotaped observation of mother-infant feeding interactions. Only ego development, and to a lesser degree psychological symptoms associated with substance abuse, were found to be significant predictors of maternal-child interaction at 1 month. This points to the need to focus on building internal resources in providing substance abuse treatment and other services for substance-abusing mothers.