The association between fathers' addiction and parental functioning of the mother

Parental drug addiction makes it difficult for the parent to fulfill familial roles (dyadic and parental), undermines the stability of the entire family, and has a detrimental impact on the children. To date, the literature has focused on the impact of the addicted parent (usually the father) on the personality and situation of the children. The focus on the impact of paternal addiction on the parental role of the non-addicted mother is limited, and has been based mainly on testimonies of children. This raises questions, because the mother not only has a strong impact on her children's development, but a mother whose spouse is addicted to drugs can have a crucial impact because the main responsibility for parenting, if not the sole responsibility, falls on her shoulders.

The present study directly examined the parenting of women whose spouses are either actively addicted to drugs or were addicted to drugs in the past. The study was based on a model developed by Belsky (1984) for examining parenthood and the factors that affect parenthood among the overall population. Belsky viewed parental system as a system where personal factors (the parent's personality characteristics and personal resources) as well as environmental factors (contextual stressors and support factors) shape parenthood.

The model was adapted to the present study, as a basis for explaining parenthood among women whose spouses are addicted to drugs. The environmental factors that the model focused on were: the woman's dyadic adjustment; the severity of her spouse's addiction; and the spouse's emotional and social problems which usually typify the situation of a person with addiction. The personality factor examined here was "dependency", a term based on Blatt's (1974) theoretical approach. This concept is of particular relevance to women whose spouses are addicted. Specifically, the study examined the differential contribution of the factors described above to parental functioning and satisfaction with parenthood among women whose spouses are addicted to drugs. The relationship between the severity of the spouse's addiction and the characteristics of the women and their environment was examined for the first time in the present study.

The research population consisted of 149 non-addicted married women with at least one child between the age of 5 and 16, and whose spouse (the father of their children) was addicted to drugs with various degrees of severity. The participants were selected out of a population of women who had sought assistance from drug abuse treatment units in departments for individuals and families at municipal social services throughout the country, as well as centers for drug abuse treatment affiliated with the Ministry of Health. The women were divided into three groups, by the severity of the spouse's addiction: women whose spouses are currently using drugs ("active addicts"), women whose spouses used drugs in the past ("clean addicts"); and women whose spouses never were addicted to drugs (the control group). Participants were interviewed and responded to the following questionnaires: a questionnaire that examined the mothers' personal data; a questionnaire that examined the severity of the spouse's addiction (addiction severity index) and social-emotional and family problems (psychological-emotional and social -family situation); a "dependency" questionnaire; a "dyadic adjustment" scale; an "well-being questionnaire; and a "parenting" questionnaire which included parental functioning and satisfaction with parenting variables.

The findings revealed differences between the women, by the severity of the spouse's drug addiction. Women whose spouses were active addicts were found to have higher levels of dependence and lower levels of dyadic adjustment, well-being, parental functioning, and satisfaction with parenting than women whose spouses were clean addicts and women in the control group. In addition, differences were found between women whose spouses were clean addicts and women in the control group: the women whose spouses were clean addicts showed higher levels of dependence and lower levels of adjustment to dyadic adjustment, well-being, and parental functioning. Moreover, levels of satisfaction with parenthood were lower for the women whose spouses were clean than for the women in the control group. Regression analyses revealed that the severity of the spouse's addiction was the variable that contributed most significantly to explaining the variance in the variables. This finding is indicative of the significant impact that the severity of the spouse's addiction has on the mother's characteristics (dependency, well-being, dyadic adjustment, parental functioning, and satisfaction with parenting).

The findings also revealed a direct and/or indirect contribution for personal factors (the mother's personality and personal well-being), and for environmental factors (dyadic adjustment, and the spouse's psychological-emotional and social-family problems). In addition, certain interactions between the variables were found to contribute to parental functioning and satisfaction with parenting among women whose spouses were addicted to drugs.  Examination of the correlations between the variables revealed, for the first time, evidence that the personality characteristics of women whose spouses are addicted to drugs according to the severity of the spouse's addiction severity. This indicates that the combination of personal factors and environmental factors shape her behavior and situation. In addition, the findings revealed that the mother's dependence can have a direct effect on her dyadic adjustment, well-being, parental functioning, and satisfaction with parenting, in addition to an indirect effect on her satisfaction with parenting. Thus, the research findings support Belsky's (1987) argument that the parent's personality characteristics have the strongest impact on parenting, because the effect was found to be both direct and indirect.

This study contributes both to theory and practice. Its unique theoretical contribution lies in the direct examination of parenting (parental functioning and satisfaction with parenting) among mothers whose spouses are addicted to drugs. The study also contributed to identifying the personal and environmental variables that affect the mother's parental functioning and satisfaction with parenting, the nature of their contribution, and the interactions between those variables. In addition, for the first time the present study examined severity of the spouse's addiction to drugs and its association with the mother's personal characteristics, as well as with other variables in the mother's immediate environment that affect parenting. This knowledge can contribute to designing plans for intervention and treatment that can be implemented among women whose spouses are addicted to drugs. In line with the findings of this study, training programs for therapists working with addicts can focus on treatment of the wives, with a view toward enhancing the parental functioning of those women.