Poster #134 - Attachment to Adoptive Parents Moderates the Effect of Cumulative Risk on Substance Use

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Children exposed to high levels of early adversity are more susceptible to abusing substances in young adulthood, especially if they are exposed to parental substance abuse (Solis et al., 2012). However, little is known about whether adoption into safe, nurturing homes may buffer the effect of adversity on later substance abuse. Parent-child attachment is a robust predictor of adolescent substance abuse, due to its impact on emotion regulation and parental monitoring (Caspers et al., 2006; Branstetter et al., 2009). Given adoptees’ history of attachment disruption, attachment security may be an especially vital deterrent to their substance abuse. The present study tested whether attachment to adoptive parents moderated the effect of pre-adoptive cumulative risk (CR) on substance use in young adulthood.

Participants included 82 adoptees, most with histories of birth parent substance abuse. Children and adoptive parents began testing two months post-adoption and returned yearly for five years. Information about CR was collected via court and DCFS records, and a CR score was summed: types of maltreatment experienced (0-3), age at adoption (<4 = 0, >4 = 1), number of foster placements (<3 = 0, 3+ = 1), ever lived with birth parent (0 = no, 1 = yes), and time in foster care (<32 mo = 0, 32+ mo = 1). An average of the Attachment Stress subscale of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI; Abidin & Abidin, 1990) across all six childhood timepoints was taken; higher scores suggested greater attachment difficulties. In young adulthood, youth and parents reported on youth’s use of various substances. Responses were coded (0 = “no use,” 1 = “infrequent use,” and 2 = “frequent use”); scores for each substance were summed to create a total substance use score. Lastly, information on stressors experienced post-adoption was collected via the Stressful Life Events Questionnaire (Goodman et al., 1998).

Results indicated that, controlling for age in young adulthood, post-adoption stress, and prenatal substance exposure, attachment stress (B = .56, p = .012) but not pre-adoptive CR (B = .17, p = .66) predicted greater substance use. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between CR and attachment stress (B = .76, p = .039); youth with low CR exhibited similar levels of substance use regardless of attachment, whereas attachment stress increased substance use among children with high CR (see Figure 1).

The present longitudinal study not only supports previous literature evidencing secure attachment as a deterrent to substance use, but also replicates this finding among a sample of children adopted from foster care, a population at high risk for substance abuse. Adoptive parent-child attachment demonstrated a greater impact on substance use than CR, highlighting the malleability of development among a population sometimes assumed to be “doomed” to addiction. Furthermore, although adoptees with low CR engaged in little substance use regardless of attachment, attachment security was a robust buffer against substance abuse for those with high levels of pre-adoptive CR. These findings underscore the importance of programs and policies that promote close adoptive parent-child relationships to prevent later substance abuse.

Authors

• Austin Joy Blake, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Audra Langley, University of California, Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jill Waterman, University of California, Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author