During the past two decades, although much has been learned about risk factors associated with maternal addiction and parenting, little research has focused on the internal conceptions of drug-addicted mothers in the parenting role, and how these conceptions function as mediators in the parenting process. The goal of this mentored patient-oriented research career award is to allow the candidate to develop a research career in the area of maternal addiction and parental development. Dr. Suchman is currently the Project Director for the NIDA funded grant, """"""""Relational Parenting Therapy for Opiate-Addicted Mothers"""""""" (R0l-DA11498) and has been examining the role of psychosocial risk in the parenting problems of opiate-addicted mothers. In the next several years, Dr. Suchman plans to conduct longitudinal research examining the role of internal conceptions of parenting in the parenting processes of cocaine and opiate-addicted mothers and its implications for parenting intervention development. Specifically, her research plan includes a 4-year longitudinal study of cocaine-addicted mothers and infants to ascertain mothers? internal representations of parenting and associations between internal representations and other parenting dimensions (e.g., psychosocial risk, parenting behaviors, child development). She will also examine cross-sectional data from opiate-addicted mothers of older children to ascertain associations between internal representations and parenting dimensions. Her proposed research will enable her to develop skills in the following areas: 1) qualitative assessment of internal working models of parenting, 2) assessment of parent-child interactions, 3) infant and child assessment, 4) longitudinal research design and data analytic strategies, 5) psychotherapy research, and 6) applications of developmental psychopathology to parental development. Dr. Suchman?s training combines formal course work with clinical research experience at several sites affiliated with the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Child Study Center. She will work closely with Drs. Bruce Rounsaville, Linda Mayes, and Suniya Luthar to receive training in the above areas. In this way, Dr. Suchman will be well prepared to achieve her long-term career goal of conducting longitudinal research on the etiology of maladaptive parenting among drug-addicted mothers and applying her findings to the development of parenting interventions.
