Parenting Stress in Mothers with Problematic Substance use: What does problem-solving have to do with it?

Talk to any parent and they will tell you that “on the fly problem-solving”, multi-tasking, stopping what you are doing and shifting focus on a dime, and keeping lists of things in mind while navigating your day, is par for the course when it comes to parenting.

These parenting behaviours draw on executive functions, higher order cognitive abilities that support effective problem-solving and goal-direction action.  While many studies have examined executive functions and their association with children’s mental health, parents executive functions have only recently been studied. Further, most studies that have looked at parents have not examined clinical samples who may be navigating greater challenges related to mental health, executive functions, and social and structural barriers to well-being, such as mothers with problematic substance use.

We completed a study with 74 mothers of children (0-3 years) who were attending outpatient substance use treatment in Ontario, Canada. They completed performance-based tasks assessing the three primary EF processes (inhibition, flexibility and working memory), along with self-report questionnaires assessing relational parenting stress, household chaos, socioeconomic stress, depressive symptoms, and substance use severity.

We found that maternal depressive symptoms and socioeconomic stress were the strongest predictors of relational parenting stress and household chaos. For relational parenting stress, weaker inhibition and working memory predicted parenting stress. Conversely, stronger set-shifting significantly and positively predicted household chaos. Self-reported substance use severity was not significant.