Improving Delay Discounting to Decrease Harsh Parenting Among Parents Receiving Substance Use Treatment

NCT05229120 | Completed Results

• 1 other identifier: NAP: 14781-29
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 38
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Parents with substance use disorders are disproportionately more likely to engage in harsh physical discipline, which can lead to serious clinical outcomes, including child maltreatment and the intergenerational transmission of addictive disorders. One mechanism linking substance use and maladaptive parenting strategies is parental delay discounting, or the tendency to value smaller, immediate rewards (such as stopping children's misbehavior via physical punishment) relative to larger, but delayed rewards (like shaping adaptive child behaviors over time). This study will examine the efficacy of implementing a low-cost, brief intervention targeting the reduction of parental delay discounting to inform broader public health efforts aimed at reducing child maltreatment and interrupting intergenerational cycles of substance abuse in traditionally underserved communities.

Conditions

Behavioral Health

Keywords

episodic future thinking; delay discounting; parent-child relations; low income; substance use treatment

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change in Delay Discounting 5 Trial Adjusted Measure

  The 5-Trial Adjusting Delay (Temporal Discounting) Task is a computer based system which uses an adjusting algorithm to determine the amount of immediately available money that is equivalent to a large sum that is delayed by seven discrete durations of time presented in a randomized order (i.e., 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, and 25 years). The length of delay is titrated based on participants' responses to previous items to determine an "indifference point" (the point at which the sums of money are perceived as equal). This is then converted to a k-value and logarithmically transformed to ensure the values are normally distributed, making them unbounded by min and max values. Higher k-values indicate a greater preference for immediate rewards. Change in Delay Discounting is evaluated by comparing baseline k-value scores with scores at the intervention (approximately 1 week after baseline) and the post-intervention assessment (approximately 4 weeks after baseline).

  Baseline and 4 weeks

• Change in Consideration of Future Consequences Scale - Parenting Adapted

  The Consideration of Future Consequences Scale-Parenting Adapted (CFCS-14-PA) is a 14-item self-report questionnaire composed of two subscales reflecting either immediate or future orientation related to parents interactions with their children. Items range from "not at all like me" (1) to "very much like me" (5) and are summed to create a total score with higher values reflecting greater future orientation. Scores range from 14 to 70. Change in CFCS-14-PA score is measured by comparing scores at the post-intervention assessment (approximately 4 weeks after baseline) with baseline scores.

  Baseline, 4 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Change in Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System Scores

  Baseline, 4 weeks

• Change in Alabama Parenting Questionnaire Scores

  Baseline, 4 weeks

Study Arms (1)

Episodic Future Thinking

EXPERIMENTAL

Parents who are receiving residential substance use disorder (SUD) treatment will receive an adapted episodic future thinking focused condition. Parents will meet with peer recovery coaches (PRCs) who will administer the intervention, focused on generating future, pleasant events with their children. After the intervention session, parents will receive a daily postcard over the course of two weeks including a reminder cue generated as part of the episodic future thinking (EFT) intervention and a prompt to remember these episodes in vivid detail.

Behavioral: Episodic Future Thinking

Interventions

Episodic Future Thinking BEHAVIORAL

The adapted episodic future thinking (EFT) intervention will focus on generation of vivid, substance-free, rewarding events that could happen in the future with their children.

Episodic Future Thinking

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Parent of child between 6-10 years of age
• Able to provide informed consent and take part in all study procedures in English
• Have current diagnosis of SUD
• Currently reside with their child at least 50% of the time
• Be willing to receive daily postcards

You may not qualify if:

• Active suicidality/homicidally
• Active bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or psychosis.
• Only one parent-child dyad from each family.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Henry Ford Health System: lead
• University of Maryland, College Park: collaborator
• University of Kansas: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Odyssey Village

Flint, Michigan, 48502, United States

Location

Related Publications (17)

• Staton-Tindall M, Sprang G, Clark J, Walker-Barnes R, Craig CD. Caregiver Substance Use and Child Outcomes: A Systematic Review. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions. 2013;13(1):6-31. doi:10.1080/1533256X.2013.752272

  BACKGROUND

• Committee on Child Maltreatment Research, Policy, and Practice for the Next Decade: Phase II; Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Committee on Law and Justice; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council; Petersen AC, Joseph J, Feit M, editors. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2014 Mar 25. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK195985/

  PMID: 24757747 BACKGROUND

• Herrenkohl RC, Herrenkohl EC, Egolf BP. Circumstances surrounding the occurrence of child maltreatment. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1983 Jun;51(3):424-31. doi: 10.1037//0022-006x.51.3.424. No abstract available.

  PMID: 6863704 BACKGROUND

• Whipple EE, Richey CA. Crossing the line from physical discipline to child abuse: how much is too much? Child Abuse Negl. 1997 May;21(5):431-44. doi: 10.1016/s0145-2134(97)00004-5.

  PMID: 9158904 BACKGROUND

• Alati R, Baker P, Betts KS, Connor JP, Little K, Sanson A, Olsson CA. The role of parental alcohol use, parental discipline and antisocial behaviour on adolescent drinking trajectories. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014 Jan 1;134:178-84. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.09.030.

  PMID: 24479151 BACKGROUND

• Young NK, Boles SM, Otero C. Parental substance use disorders and child maltreatment: overlap, gaps, and opportunities. Child Maltreat. 2007 May;12(2):137-49. doi: 10.1177/1077559507300322.

  PMID: 17446567 BACKGROUND

• Reynolds B. A review of delay-discounting research with humans: relations to drug use and gambling. Behav Pharmacol. 2006 Dec;17(8):651-67. doi: 10.1097/FBP.0b013e3280115f99.

  PMID: 17110792 BACKGROUND

• Bickel WK, Marsch LA. Toward a behavioral economic understanding of drug dependence: delay discounting processes. Addiction. 2001 Jan;96(1):73-86. doi: 10.1046/j.1360-0443.2001.961736.x.

  PMID: 11177521 BACKGROUND

• Amlung M, Vedelago L, Acker J, Balodis I, MacKillop J. Steep delay discounting and addictive behavior: a meta-analysis of continuous associations. Addiction. 2017 Jan;112(1):51-62. doi: 10.1111/add.13535. Epub 2016 Sep 1.

  PMID: 27450931 BACKGROUND

• MacKillop J, Amlung MT, Few LR, Ray LA, Sweet LH, Munafo MR. Delayed reward discounting and addictive behavior: a meta-analysis. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2011 Aug;216(3):305-21. doi: 10.1007/s00213-011-2229-0. Epub 2011 Mar 4.

  PMID: 21373791 BACKGROUND

• Felton JW, Collado A, Ingram K, Lejuez CW, Yi R. Changes in delay discounting, substance use, and weight status across adolescence. Health Psychol. 2020 May;39(5):413-420. doi: 10.1037/hea0000833. Epub 2020 Jan 9.

  PMID: 31916829 BACKGROUND

• Milligan K, Meixner T, Tremblay M, Tarasoff LA, Usher A, Smith A, Niccols A, Urbanoski KA. Parenting Interventions for Mothers With Problematic Substance Use: A Systematic Review of Research and Community Practice. Child Maltreat. 2020 Aug;25(3):247-262. doi: 10.1177/1077559519873047. Epub 2019 Oct 14.

  PMID: 31610688 BACKGROUND

• Neger EN, Prinz RJ. Interventions to address parenting and parental substance abuse: conceptual and methodological considerations. Clin Psychol Rev. 2015 Jul;39:71-82. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2015.04.004. Epub 2015 Apr 24.

  PMID: 25939033 BACKGROUND

• Kaminski JW, Valle LA, Filene JH, Boyle CL. A meta-analytic review of components associated with parent training program effectiveness. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2008 May;36(4):567-89. doi: 10.1007/s10802-007-9201-9. Epub 2008 Jan 19.

  PMID: 18205039 BACKGROUND

• Liu L, Feng T, Chen J, Li H. The value of emotion: how does episodic prospection modulate delay discounting? PLoS One. 2013 Nov 28;8(11):e81717. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081717. eCollection 2013.

  PMID: 24312341 BACKGROUND

• Peters J, Buchel C. Episodic future thinking reduces reward delay discounting through an enhancement of prefrontal-mediotemporal interactions. Neuron. 2010 Apr 15;66(1):138-48. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.026.

  PMID: 20399735 BACKGROUND

• Lin H, Epstein LH. Living in the moment: effects of time perspective and emotional valence of episodic thinking on delay discounting. Behav Neurosci. 2014 Feb;128(1):12-9. doi: 10.1037/a0035705.

  PMID: 24512061 BACKGROUND

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Julia Felton, PhD
• Organization: Henry Ford Health

jfelton4@hfhs.org

704-995-7832

Study Officials

• Julia Felton, PhD

  Henry Ford Health

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Scientist

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 18, 2022
• First Posted: February 8, 2022
• Study Start: April 7, 2022
• Primary Completion: February 10, 2023
• Study Completion: March 31, 2023
• Last Updated: March 14, 2025
• Results First Posted: March 14, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)