Romantic attachment style and parenting in drug dependent mothers

A structured questionnaire was used to interview 64 drug using mothers about their levels of past and current drug use, depression, criminal behaviour, memories of their own parents, and in particular, romantic attachment style as measured by Hazan and Shaver's measure. The aim was to compare those mothers who had experienced some form of parenting breakdown, as measured by their having lost a child into social services' care, with those who had managed to combine drug use with being good enough parents. Women who had lost a child into social services' care were not found to differ from the other women for the majority of factors looked at. However, they were found to be less secure and more avoidant regarding their romantic attachment style. Romantic attachment was then explored further, and found to correlate with a number of the other variables looked at. The more secure participants were in education for longer, had lower depression levels, a shorter history of daily heroin use, and had been in prison fewer times. The use of a romantic attachment style or other adult attachment measure with drug users is then considered from a clinical perspective, with particular reference to helping to identify those most likely to experience parenting difficulties at an early stage in treatment