Motherhood and motivation for substance abuse treatment and behavior change

Maternal substance abuse is a serious problem because it has the potential to result in consequences for both the woman abusing the drugs and for her children. Maternal substance abuse has been linked to increased incidents of child maltreatment, and children exposed to drugs prenatally can be born with mental and physical birth defects. As a result of the consequences of maternal substance abuse on children, women who continue to use drugs during pregnancy and while parenting have faced public scrutiny. These women have been publicly condemned because they do not seem motivated enough to cease their harmful substance use out of concern for their own children. Using data from the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcomes Study (N=3408) and National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (N=1774), this study examined the relationship between being a mother, parenting, child custody issues, and pregnancy and the women's level of motivation for both for treatment and for drug and alcohol use behavior as measured by the TCU Treatment Motivation Scale and questions in the Addiction Severity Index. It also examined the relationship between intrinsic motivation and treatment outcomes.;Study results indicated that being a mother and parenting, child custody concerns were significant predictors of high intrinsic motivation for substance abuse treatment and behavior change, even after controlling for alternative explanatory factors. However, high intrinsic motivation scores at entry into treatment were not consistent predictors of longer stays in substance abuse treatment or improvements in substance use problems following treatment for women.;Study findings suggest that while women's intrinsic motivation and factors related to it play some role in predicting women's outcomes in substance abuse treatment, there are most likely factors outside of the ones explored in this study that might contribute to our understanding of women's success in substance abuse treatment. In addition to other factors, it is speculated that environmental and provider-related factors, like the types of services provided to and utilized by women in substance abuse treatment would help to explain their treatment success.