Maternal substance use disorder predicting children's emotion regulation in middle childhood : the role of early mother-infant interaction

Background: Maternal prenatal substance use disorder (SUD) represents a dual risk for child wellbeing due to teratogenic impacts and parenting problems often inherent in SUD. One potential mechanism transferring this risk is altered development of children's emotion regulation (ER). The present study examines how mother's prenatal SUD and early mother-infant interaction quality predict children's ER in middle childhood. Method: The participants were 52 polysubstance using mothers and 50 non-users and their children. First-year mother-infant interaction quality was assessed with the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales and children's ER with the Children's Emotion Management Scales (CEMS), and its parent version (P-CEMS) at 8-12 years. Results: Mother's prenatal SUD predicted a low level of children's adaptive ER strategies, whereas early mother-infant interaction problems predicted a high level of emotion dysregulation. The dyadic interaction also mediated the effect of SUD on emotion dysregulation. In the SUD group, more severe substance use predicted high emotion inhibition. Conclusion: Early mother-infant interaction quality is critical in shaping children's ER, also in middle-childhood. Interventions aimed for mothers with prenatal SUD should integrate parenting components to support the optimal development of multiply vulnerable children.Peer reviewe

The effectiveness of Nurture and Play : a mentalisation-based parenting group intervention for prenatally depressed mothers

Aim: This randomised control trial (RCT) study examined the effectiveness of a mentalisation-based perinatal group intervention, Nurture and Play (NaP), in improving mother–infant interaction quality and maternal reflective functioning and in decreasing depressive symptoms. Background: Few preventive prenatal interventions have been developed for primary health care settings for mothers with depressive symptoms. Furthermore, previous prenatal intervention studies have only concentrated on reducing depressive symptoms and have not directly addressed enhancing optimal parenting qualities. Methods: The participants were 45 pregnant women with depressive symptoms. Women in the randomly assigned intervention group (n = 24) participated in the manualised, short-term NaP intervention group from pregnancy until the baby’s age of seven months, whereas control group women received treatment as usual (TAU). Maternal emotional availability (EA), reflective functioning (RF) and depressive symptoms were measured before the intervention and at the infants’ 12 months of age, and changes were evaluated using repeated measure analyses of variances (ANOVAs). Findings: The results showed that the intervention group displayed higher maternal sensitivity and RF and more reduction in depressive symptoms than the control group when babies were 12 months old. These findings provide preliminary support for the effectiveness of the NaP intervention.Peer reviewe

Data from: A cross sectional study of the relationship between the exposure of pregnant women to military attacks in 2014 in Gaza and the load of heavy metal contaminants in the hair of mothers and newborns

OBJECTIVE: Metal contamination of humans in wars areas was rarely investigated. Weaponry’s heavy-metals become environmentally stable war-remnants and accumulate in livings. They pose health risks also by prenatal intake and potential long-term risks for reproductive and children’s health. We studied the contribution by military attacks to the load of 23 metals in the hair of Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip, pregnant at the time of military attacks in 2014, and their newborns. We compared the metal load in the mothers with values of adult hair from outside war area (RHS), as reference. We investigated heavy metals trans-passing in utero and assessed if risky heavy metals intake could come from not war-related sources. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Random cohort of 502 mothers delivering in the Gaza Strip and their newborns. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURED: Measure of the load of heavy-metals in mother and newborn hair by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP/MS). Comparison of metal load with RHS, between groups with different exposures to attacks and house/agriculture chemicals, and between mothers and newborns. Data for birth registry and for exposures to war and other known risk factors were obtained at interviews with mothers. Photo documentation of damage from military attacks. RESULTS: The whole cohort had significantly higher load of heavy metals than RHS. Women exposed to military attacks had significantly higher load of heavy metals than those not exposed; the load in newborns correlated positively with mothers’; no significant difference was found between users/not users of house/agriculture chemicals; no other known confounder was identified. CONCLUSIONS: High heavy-metals loads in mothers, reflected in those of their newborns, are associated with exposure to military attacks posing risk of immediate and long-term negative outcomes for pregnancy and child health. Surveillance, biomonitoring and further research are recommended. Implications for general and public health are discussed