Child Problems as a Moderator of Relations Between Maternal Impulsivity and Family Environment in a High-Risk Sample

ABSTRACT

Objective: Previous studies have suggested that maternal characteristics are related to family environment; however, the relation between maternal impulsivity, in particular, and family environment is not well understood. As such, we examined direct relations between maternal impulsivity and family environment, as well as whether the relation between maternal impulsivity and family environment was moderated by child problems for sons and daughters. We hypothesized that child problems would moderate the association between maternal impulsivity and family environment. We also explored whether these associations differ for boys and girls. Method: Data from the initial visit of a longitudinal study was used for the current study. Participants included 297 youth (137 boys; 160 girls) of 10 to 12 years of age (M = 10.99, SD = .84) and their mothers. The majority of the sample had a family history of substance use disorder (n = 236). Results: Hierarchical linear regressions showed that for sons there was a significant interaction between maternal impulsivity and child problems on family environment. Maternal impulsivity was positively related to family environment problems among sons with few emotional and behavioral problems, but there was no significant correlation among sons with high problem levels. Among daughters, there was no significant interaction between maternal impulsivity and child emotional and behavioral problems on family environment. Conclusions: The results suggest that the association between maternal impulsivity and family environment may depend on problem level and child gender. Thus, addressing maternal impulsivity in therapy may benefit some families.

KEYWORDS:

• Delay discounting
• family history
• family environment
• family functioning
• adolescence

Funding

Research supported in this manuscript was supported by NIDA of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R01DA026868, R01DA033997-02S2, and T32DA031115.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carly K. Friedman

Carly K. Friedman, Ph.D., is currently an adjunct professor of Psychology at the University of the Incarnate Word. Her research interests are in family and peers influences on adolescent and young adulthood development and well-being. She completed her graduate degree in Developmental Psychology at the University of California Santa Cruz where she studied the development of gender stereotypes, gender identity, and engagement in activism from childhood through emerging adulthood.

Stacy R. Ryan

Stacy R. Ryan, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She earned her Ph.D. from Emory University in 2010 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Addiction Research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Her primary research interests center on identifying biosocial factors that influence outcomes for treatment of youth substance use disorders and related aggressive/delinquent behavior. She is particularly interested in using this information to understand the utility of current intervention programs. Dr. Ryan hopes that her research will lead to the improvement of current evidence-based treatment programs that are aimed at treating adolescent substance use and other externalizing behaviors.

Nora E. Charles

Nora E. Charles, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi. She earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 2011 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship on adolescent substance use and behavior problems at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Her research interests include the development of substance misuse among adolescents and young adults, as well as co-occurring problems such as delinquency and risky sexual behavior.

Charles W. Mathias

Charles W. Mathias, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Biopsychology from the University of New Orleans in 2000. His research interests focus on mechanisms and predictors of interpersonal violence and self-harm behaviors.

Ashley Acheson

Ashley Acheson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. He earned his Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Buffalo, SUNY in 2004. His primary interest has been the examination of the neural substrates of decision-making and impulse control. He is particularly interested in understanding how these substrates function differentially in drug-abusing and other impulsive populations, either as a result of baseline differences or as consequences of drug use or other influences

Donald M. Dougherty

Donald M. Dougherty, Ph.D., is the William & Marguerite Wurzbach Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He obtained his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Ohio University in Athens Ohio. His current research focuses on the understanding of substance use developmental trajectories among youth. In addition, he has established himself as a leader in the validation and the creative use of transdermal alcohol monitoring technology in clinical populations.