Development of the Parent-to-Infant Bonding Scale: Validation in Swedish Mothers and Fathers in Community and Clinical Contexts.

Valid measurement instruments are needed to investigate the impact of parental bonding on child health development. The aim was to develop and validate a self-report questionnaire, the Parent-to-Infant Bonding Scale (PIBS) to measure bonding in both mothers and fathers. Internal consistency and construct validity were analysed using data from Swedish parents from both clinical (N = 182), and community (N = 122) population samples. Overall, good or acceptable internal consistency of the PIBS appeared. Convergent validity (against the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire, analysed in the clinical sample) and discriminant validity (against the mental health constructs of depressive symptoms and anxiety) were demonstrated. The results support the PIBS as a measure of maternal and paternal bonding in community and clinical populations. Assessments of criterion validity in these populations are desirable. The similarities in PIBS measurement properties between the parent groups suggest its usefulness for comparisons between mothers and fathers, and for future investigations of unique and interactive impacts of maternal and paternal bonding on child outcomes using community and clinical cohorts.

Parenting stress and its correlates in an infant mental health unit: a cross-sectional study.

Background: An infant's development is closely linked to the relationship they have with their parents. Parenting stress, affective disorder, and an upbringing with substance-abusing parents can affect parenting quality and increase the risk of children developing behavioral, mental and social problems. The overall aim of the study was to investigate how parents of children attending an outpatient Infant Mental Health (IMH) unit rate their own psychological health and parenting stress, and to explore predictors of parenting stress.Methods: The sample comprised 197 parents, 129 mothers and 68 fathers, referred with their infant/toddler to an outpatient IMH unit for interplay treatment. On admission, the parents completed self-report questionnaires concerning their own mental health problems and parenting stress.Results: The mothers reported significantly more psychiatric symptoms and parenting stress than the fathers. Fathers with substance-abusing parents had often experienced divorce in the family of origin, had a low level of education, and had often experienced trauma. Depression was a predictor for parenting stress for both mothers and fathers.Conclusion: The parents' situation was strained, presenting a variety of psychiatric symptoms and high levels of parenting stress, making assessment of parental health before starting treatment important. The mothers' situations were more serious compared with the fathers', and for both parents depression was a significant predictor for parenting stress. To increase the chances of a positive treatment outcome for the child, both parents should be included in the treatment.

An upbringing with substance-abusing parents: Experiences of parentification and dysfunctional communication.

AIM: To increase understanding of the consequences of growing up with substance-abusing parents, including how this can influence the experience of becoming a parent. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 parents who had participated in an Infant and Toddler Psychiatry Unit intervention programme and who had experienced substance-abusing parents in their family of origin. Directed qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Analysis of the interview material revealed both a high incidence of parentification and a conspiracy of silence concerning the substance abuse that helped generate symptoms of cognitive dissonance in the children. As parents they experience a high degree of inadequacy, incompetence and stress. CONCLUSION: A majority of the children who had grown up with substance-abusing parents responded by taking a parenting role for themselves, their siblings and their parents. These children, often well-behaved and seemingly competent, need to be identified and offered support as they risk developing significant psychological and emotional difficulties that can extend into adulthood. They form an extra sensitive group who may need special support up to and including the time when they become parents themselves. This finding underlines the importance of further research on parenting among those who have grown up with abusive parents.

Struggling with one's own parenting after an upbringing with substance abusing parents.

AIM: To add to our knowledge concerning the key elements involved in the individual's experience of growing up with substance abusing parents and the resulting challenges this involved for their own parenthood. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 parents who had participated in a mental health intervention programme. All had experienced substance abusing parents in their family of origin. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. They also completed a self-report questionnaire assessing their attachment style. RESULT: Participants reported a high incidence of emotional abuse and neglect coupled with inadequate support from the community. Their own parental role was influenced by high parental stress and a majority had an insecure attachment style. CONCLUSIONS: All participants had experienced a very difficult childhood which was reinforced by the fact that they received little support from society. Their childhood experience and the resulting challenges that this created in their own parenting role could negatively influence their own children's ability to form a secure psychosocial development. It is therefore important to develop instruments that can help to identify children who were raised in misuse families in order to accommodate the transgenerational effects of growing up with substance abusing parents.

Vulnerable parenting among mothers with substance abuse in their family of origin: a cross-sectional comparative study of mothers in an infant and toddler program.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether women raised in a family with substance abuse constitute a particularly vulnerable group of patients in an infant psychiatry setting and to identify the risk factors of suspected parental malfunctioning in women referred to treatment in an infant and toddler intervention program. BACKGROUND: A history of family substance abuse can severely disrupt the caretaking abilities of parents in ways that can have far-reaching consequences, and children growing up with insufficient parental care may incorporate this deficiency into their own parental behavior. METHODS: In total, 126 mothers completed self-report questionnaires assessing their substance abuse and health problems as well as problems in their family of origin. The index group was defined as women who reported substance abuse in their family of origin (n = 35). The comparison group was defined as women who denied substance abuse in their family of origin (n = 91). RESULTS: Symptoms of depression and anxiety were overrepresented in the total group of mothers compared with the Swedish norm. The index group had experienced parental divorce and traumatic life events more often and reported earlier substance abuse of their own. They had significantly more depression and ADHD symptoms and were more often single parents. All these factors can have a negative influence, separately or in combination, on the ability to practice sensitive parenting. CONCLUSIONS: Female offspring of substance-abusing parents are an especially vulnerable group of patients. To prevent the intergenerational transmission of alcohol and drug abuse, it is important to identify parents with specific needs and to administer targeted treatment and support at primary health care centers and child psychiatric clinics.