Parental Reflective Function in Substance Use Disorder: Individual Differences and Intervention Potential

Purpose of Review Chronic substance use among parents has been associated with poor family outcomes. Parental reflective function (PRF), which refers to the capacity to reflect on mental states (i.e., thoughts, feelings, desires) in relation to oneself and child, may be part of the mechanism that increases risk for child socio-emotional challenges associated with parental substance use. Recent Findings Parents in substance use treatment have lower levels of PRF than that seen in general community samples. Within this population, lower levels of PRF are seen in those who have experienced childhood abuse and neglect or those who perform lower on tasks of executive functioning. Intervention studies with parents with problematic substance use suggest that PRF is amenable to change. Further, changes in reflective functioning about oneself in the parenting role may be particularly related to improvements in parental sensitivity. Summary PRF may be part of the mechanism and an important target for understanding parenting and its intervention in the context of problematic parental substance use. Further study of this area is needed, and some directions to guide this work are provided.