ABSTRACT
Substance use disorder is a prevalent condition that affects over 20 million adults in the United States, which represents over 8% of the U.S. adult population (NSDUH, 2015). Moreover, combined national data from 2002 to 2007 showed that a substantial proportion of children under the age of 18 in the United States (11.9% or 8.3 million children) lived with a parent with a current (past year) substance use disorder (SAMHSA, 2010). This large percentage of children with substance-abusing parents highlights the importance of understanding parenting among parents with substance use disorder. Because of the epidemiology of substance use disorder, children are more likely to be exposed to parental alcohol use disorder than to parental illicit drug use disorder and more often to a father with a substance use disorder than to a mother with a substance use disorder (SAMHSA, 2010). Thus, although many studies of parenting focus on mothers, when considering parents with substance use disorder it is particularly important to include fathers (McMahon, Winkel, and Rounsaville, 2007). Nevertheless, even if lower in prevalence, maternal substance use disorder also plays a vital role because mothers are often children’s primary caregivers. Moreover, although beyond the scope of the current chapter, mothers with substance use disorder can have significant impact on their children through their substance use during pregnancy. Approximately 10% of all children born in the United States (400,000 per year) have been exposed to some substance prenatally (Young et al., 2009).
