Study on Parenting, Emotion Regulation and Opioids (“The PERO Study”), Oregon, 2021

Summary:  View help for Summary Physical and mental health conditions are highly prevalent among women of child-rearing age, and they are highly comorbid. The co-occurrence of physical and mental conditions constitutes a public health crisis when considered in the context of parenting, because the presence of these conditions in mothers is linked to high rates of mental health problems in children. However, most research on intergenerational transmission of health problems has focused on mental or physical health conditions in isolation, rather than examining potentially shared mechanisms that may increase children’s risk for developing a number of poor health outcomes.

Here, we focus on one mechanism that may increase intergenerational transmission of poor health outcomes: maternal emotion dysregulation (Stone & Wilson, 2016). Specifically, we studied mothers who reported elevated symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) – a disorder characterized by poor emotion regulation, including affective instability, interpersonal chaos, impulsivity, and identity disturbance.

Separate studies have shown that chronic pain (e.g., Wilson & Fales, 2016) and substance use (for review, see Peisch et al., 2018) each impact parenting quality and children’s mental health outcomes. Researchers have not yet examined these factors in combination, nor have they studied how these factors relate to each other in individuals who also struggle with emotion regulation. Therefore, in our research, we examined how chronic pain and substance use impact parenting quality and children’s mental health outcomes in a sample of mothers with elevated BPD symptoms.

Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Oregon, United States

Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 1/1/2021 – 7/30/2021

Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) survey data

Collection Notes:  View help for Collection Notes Study Design:
Eligible mothers who contacted us after completing the Screener Survey were sent an electronic link to complete the Main Survey, until the study was filled. This survey combines questions from several standardized questionnaires about their own mental health, substance craving and use, pain symptoms, parenting behaviors, and their children’s mental health. Because many families were experiencing a difficult and stressful time due to coronavirus (COVID-19), we also asked a few questions to find out how much mothers believed the current situation may have impacted their responses to our main questions. Finally, an open-ended question asking about the mother's interest in participating in this study was replicated from the screener into the main survey and played a dual role: 1) curiosity within the START Lab about potential participant motivation, and 2) to detect bot activity, as automated systems typically cannot respond coherently to open response questions. Mother completed the Main Survey via a secure UO REDcap electronic link using their own computers, laptops, tablets, phones, or other personal electronic devices in a location of their choosing. Mothers had the option to skip any questions they did not want to answer, with no negative impact on their study compensation. We expected this survey to take mothers roughly 1-3 hours to complete (which included time for mothers to take short breaks from it as needed).

A subset of the mothers who completed the Main Survey were invited to complete one electronic daily diary every day for 21 consecutive days until they reach 14 completed diaries. Because many families were experiencing a difficult and stressful time due to coronavirus (COVID-19), we also asked a few questions to find out how much mothers believed the current situation may have impacted their experiences during the days during which they completed the daily dairies.

Electronic Daily Diaries. Eligible mothers were sent an electronic link to complete the Daily Diaries, until the study was filled. After providing consent on the virtual consent form, participants indicated the day they would like to start the daily diaries. The also indicated whether they prefer text or email reminders for the daily diaries survey links. We explained that we wanted to capture participants’ typical everyday experiences. We also explained that they will receive a text or e-mail message at the end of the day (at approximately 5:00pm), prompting them to complete an electronic daily diary for that day immediately before they go to bed.

Inclusion Criteria:

• [Aim 1 and 2] Mothers must be at least 18 years old
• [Aim 1 and 2] Mothers must have at least one child who is 3- to 8-years old who lives with them at least 4 days per week
• [Aim 1 and 2] Mothers must report elevated BPD symptoms (i.e., score 7+ on McLean Screening Instrument)
• [Aim 1 and 2] Mothers must have access to the internet as all study procedures are online.
• [Aim 3] Mothers must meet Aim 1 eligibility criteria (listed above)
• [Aim 3] Mothers must report using any amount of any substance at least once in the past 30 days

Exclusion Criteria:

• If mothers did not meet the above inclusion criteria, they were ineligible to participate.

Measures administered in the surveys:

• Demographic Questionnaire
• Service Utilization
• Broad Psychopathology
• Children’s Behavior Checklist
• Children’s Behavior Questionnaire
• Current Opioid Misuse Measure
• Opioid Craving Scale
• Physical Function
• Pandemic Experience: Psychological, Parenting, and Substance Use
• Parenting Stress Index Short Form
• Pain Intensity
• Pain Interference
• Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Waves & Follow-up Times:
There are 1 wave of data.

• Wave 1 Baseline was administered at day 0.

Observations:
In total, there are 100 unique participants across all the data files submitted. There are 100 data rows and 247 data variables.