Opioid use and maternal sensitivity to infant cues: an ERP study

Abstract

The current study examined the effects of medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid dependence, over and above other substance use, on mothers’ neural sensitivity to infant cues and parenting behaviors, including maternal nurturance, sensitivity, and intrusiveness. A total of 265 peripartum women, and later their infants, were included in the study. Mothers who received MAT during pregnancy demonstrated significantly longer latencies to neural responses (N170) to crying infant faces than mothers who used other substances or mothers who did not use substances. Polysubstance use at 6 months postpartum was positively correlated with intrusiveness when infants were 6 months old. Latency to the N170 was negatively correlated with maternal nurturance, and mediation analyses revealed that the latency to the N170 in response to crying faces fully mediated the association between MAT use during pregnancy and nurturance when infants were 6 months old.