Predictors of changes in child-rearing practices among parents with alcohol or drug addiction during a parenting skills training program

This study aimed to verify whether various parent and family characteristics can predict changes in supervision, discipline, and warmth and affection among parents with an alcohol or drug addiction who took part in the parenting program “Cap sur la famille” (Laventure et al. 2018). The sample included twenty-nine parents with an alcohol or drug addiction who had a child between the ages of six and twelve. Backward stepwise linear regression results revealed that parents’ age, psychological health (anxiety and irritability), and substance use problems predicted the change in warmth in their child-rearing practices during the program. The results also showed that anxiety predicted 15.2% of the variance in the evolution of inadequate supervision. Thus, the more the parent presented an anxious psychological state before the program, the less they improved their supervision skills during it. A parent’s irritability, as assessed before the program, predicted a reduction in inconsistent discipline and explained 10.4% of the variance. Therefore, the more the parent was irritable before starting the program, the more their consistency in their discipline practices improved by the end of it. Regarding warmth and affection, the results indicated that parents’ age, risk of problematic substance use, and irritability as measured before the program were all predictors of the improvement of these parenting skills. The younger the parents were, the more they tended to become warm and affectionate. Parents who were more irritable upon beginning the program and those who used alcohol or drugs in riskier ways also improved their skills on this level. The regression model including these three characteristics explained 52.9% of the variance regarding the outcome of warmth and affection during the program. Considering that addiction is the most reported functioning problem identified by parents who mistreat their children (Léveillé et al. 2007), that it can affect the quality of their child-rearing practices (Bertrand et al. 2007), and that it can have harmful consequences on children (Dunn et al. 2002), the results of this study argue in favor of the implementation of programs such as “Cap sur la famille” (Laventure et al. 2018) with parents who struggle with such problems.