An April 4 article by Sanne Specht of the Associated Press described one woman's long struggle to free her family -- and protect her children -- from the downward spiral of drug addiction:

Adrianna Poot didn't want to pass on her parents' painful legacy of drug use, child abuse and neglect. But she did.

"I used to stick my daughter in a highchair in the morning when she was 1 or 2 years old," said Poot, of Medford. "I'd give her something to eat, turn on a video and just leave her there. Then I'd go back to bed because I'd been up all night. Doing drugs. Doing whatever." ...

Sobriety lessons learned at OnTrack's Moms Program and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, parenting skills acquired at the Family Nurturing Center and Community Family Court, and insights gained in her Women Against Violence group are all helping Poot become the kind of mother she never had. The kind of mother every child deserves.

"I used to stuff my feelings, and then I'd leak them all over the place," she said. "I never figured out what was really bothering me. Now I'm learning how to manage my feelings."

Labels: mothers, parents, addiction

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Maternal predictions about teen drinking help determine if a teen will abuse alcohol, according to a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

If a mother believes that her child is going to drink alcohol in junior high and high school, the child is more likely to do so. The opposite is also true.

"When mothers overestimated their teens' future use of alcohol, the teens developed the self-view that they were likely to drink alcohol in the future, which ultimately led them to drink more," said Stephanie Madson, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University.

Dr. Madson and her colleagues studied 800 Iowa mothers and their children over a period of five years. They found evidence that children formed views about alcohol use based upon their mothers' beliefs, especially whether their mothers believed it is acceptable for adolescents to drink alcohol.

"The moral here is to help children develop positive and pro-social self-concepts about themselves, because children are likely to make choices that match how they view themselves," Dr. Madson said. "The more acceptable teens believed adolescent alcohol use was, the more alcohol they tended to drink themselves."

Read more: Mom's Use of Substances Puts Child at Risk

Labels: mothers, influences, predictors

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

Pregnant rats that ingest alcohol give birth to offspring that are attracted to that substance, according to a new study from the State University of New York.

Scientists have already shown that for humans, the best predictor of teen and adult alcoholism is having a mother who drank during pregnancy.

The theory of the new study is that mammals can 'learn' that alcohol is something good even in utero, according to Professor Steven Youngentob. He and his colleagues point out that the senses are among the first systems to develop. A fetus may "learn" by smell and sight what to eat and drink according to what its mother ingests.

"All that information gets transmitted to the fetus during gestation or lactation," Dr. Youngentob explained. He believes this adaptation probably works in humans as well as rats.

If a young rat was not exposed to alcohol by adulthood, it lost its attraction. This study appears in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.

Boarding schools for teens with substance abuse and addiction problems can help by offering a powerful combination of therapy and accredited academics.

Labels: alcohol_abuse, mothers, influences

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