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Perceived Child Behavior Problems, Parenting Stress, and Maternal Depressive Symptoms Among Prenatal Methamphetamine Users
Child Psychiatry and Human Development,
Clinical Article
Liles BD et al. – In a hierarchical linear model, depressive symptoms, and perceived child behavior problems, but not methamphetamine exposure, were statistically significant predictors of parenting stress.
Methods- Participants were a subsample (n = 212; 75 exposed, 137 comparison) of biological mothers who had continuous custody of their child from birth to 36 months.
- The subsample was drawn from a larger, ongoing longitudinal study on the effects of prenatal methamphetamine exposure (n = 412; 204 exposed, 208 comparison) (Arria et al in Matern Child Health J 10:293-302 2006).
- Mothers who used MA during pregnancy reported more parenting stress and more depressive symptoms than a matched comparison group.
- There were no differences between groups on perceived child behavior problems.