Children younger than 4 years and their substance-dependent mothers in the child welfare clinic

Aim: To explore the prevalence of substance dependency among mothers of small children and to evaluate the value of a routine-style maternal report on social support, child's somatic health history and child caregiving experiences to differentiate the substance-dependent group from the non-dependent group. Methods: Mothers (n = 413) of children less than 4 y in the child welfare clinics filled in the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI, Miller 1985) and questionnaires concerning social support, somatic history of the child, difficulties in social environment and in caring for the child. Results: The prevalence of substance dependency was 5.8%. The maternal perceptions of the child's somatic history could not differentiate the dependent from the non-dependent group, while the child caregiving difficulties were more often present in the group of substance-dependent mothers. The combined group of substance dependency and substance use was significantly associated with low social support and difficulties in social environment. Conclusions: The prevalence of substance dependency among mothers of small children is considerable and significantly associated with child caregiving difficulties and low social support, while the perceptions on the somatic health of the child did not differentiate the dependent from the non-dependent group. This suggests the value of considering the maternal experiences in caring for the child and well-being of the mother during check-ups in the child welfare clinic in order to identify the mother-child pairs at risk.