In this study of 360 low-income mother–child dyads, our primary
goal was to disentangle risks linked with commonly co-occurring maternal
diagnoses: substance abuse and affective/anxiety disorders. Variable-
and person-based analyses suggest that, at least through children's
early adolescence, maternal drug use is no more inimical for them than is
maternal depression. A second goal was to illuminate vulnerability and
protective processes linked with mothers' everyday functioning, and
results showed that negative parenting behaviors were linked with multiple
adverse child outcomes. Conversely, the other parenting dimensions showed
more domain specificity; parenting stress was linked with children's
lifetime diagnoses, and limit setting and closeness with children's
externalizing problems and everyday competence, respectively. Results are
discussed in terms of implications for resilience theory, interventions,
and social policy.Preparation of this
manuscript was funded in part by grants from the National Institutes of
Health (RO1-DA10726, RO1-DA11498, and R01-DA14385).