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The relationship between parental
substance abuse and long-term coping in adult domestic
violence survivors.
Griffing, S., Jospitre, T., Chu, M., Sage, R.E., Madry,
L. & Primm, B.J.
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Previous URI research (Jospitre et al., 2005) indicates that adult children
of substance abusing parents report significantly higher levels of
childhood neglect than children of non-substance abusing parents.
The present study expands upon this research by exploring the interrelationships
between parental substance abuse, childhood emotional neglect and
long-term coping in an ethnically diverse sample of adult female domestic
violence survivors (N=276). Participants completed a structured interview
that assessed parental substance abuse, as well as the Childhood Trauma
Questionnaire and the Coping Strategies Inventory. As hypothesized,
children of substance abusing mothers (n=56) reported significantly
greater reliance on disengaged or avoidant coping strategies (specifically,
social withdrawal, self-criticism and wishful thinking), than children
of non-substance abusing mothers (n=220), p<.01. Contrary to our
predictions, paternal substance abuse was not predictive of greater
use of disengaged coping. A mediational model was tested which revealed
that, as hypothesized, emotional neglect mediated the relationship
between maternal substance abuse and avoidant coping (p<.01). These
findings indicate the importance of close collaboration between substance
abuse and domestic violence/child welfare agencies. In addition, children
of substance abusing parents may benefit from coping skills training.
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