Future Thinking to Improve Parent-Child Relationships

NCT05963633 | Active Not Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: NARCT: 16430-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 72
• 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 effectiveness of a brief, episodic future thinking (EFT) intervention in a substance use treatment setting to increase parents' focus on positive, future events associated with enhancing the parent-child relationship. This study will inform broader public health efforts aimed at reducing child maltreatment and interrupting intergenerational cycles of substance abuse in traditionally underserved communities.

Conditions

Behavior, 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 computer based adjusting amount discounting task 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).At each delay, a choice is first presented between the delayed larger sum and a smaller sum available immediately. For each trial, the position of the delayed and immediate amounts are randomly assigned the left or right portion of the screen, and the participant chooses the preferred option by pressing the corresponding left or right response button.

  Baseline, Week 2, Week 4, Week 14

• Change in Consideration of Future Consequences Scale

  The Consideration of Future Consequences Scale1 (CFCS-14) is a 14-item self-report questionnaire that assesses active consideration of longer-term implications of an individual's actions. Lower scores on the CFCS-14 are associated with a greater focus on immediate needs and have been found to be associated with less engagement in health behaviors1819 and greater substance use. The measure has been used extensively among adult samples and demonstrates strong reliability and validity. Research suggests modest but significant correlations with the MCQ.

  Baseline, Week 4, Week 14

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Alabama Parenting Questionnaire Scores

  Baseline, Week 4

Study Arms (2)

Episodic Future Thinking (EFT)

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 milestones with their children. The participant will also be allowed to draw or write about the scene, to help them envision it, which they will keep to refer to if they choose. After the intervention session, PRCs will check-in with parents daily over the course of two weeks to practice episodic future thinking (EFT) intervention by asking participants to further elaborate on the milestones they identified in the intervention to prompt these episodes in vivid detail.

Behavioral: Episodic Future Thinking (EFT)

Episodic Recent Thinking (ERT)

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Parents who are receiving residential substance use disorder (SUD) treatment will receive an adapted episodic recent thinking intervention. Parents will meet with peer recovery coaches (PRCs) who will administer the intervention. During the intervention, the participant will be asked to describe in detail two things they struggled with and two things that went well that occurred during the last few days. The participant will also be allowed to draw or write about the scene, to help them envision it, which they will keep to refer to if they choose. After the intervention session, or present-oriented thinking (in the comparison condition, by asking participants to discuss an event that happened that day PRCs will check-in with parents daily over the course of two weeks to practice episodic future thinking (EFT) intervention by asking participants to further elaborate on the milestones they identified in the intervention to prompt these episodes in vivid detail.

Behavioral: Episodic Recent Thinking (ERT)

Interventions

Episodic Future Thinking (EFT) 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 (EFT)

Episodic Recent Thinking (ERT) BEHAVIORAL

In the episodic recent thinking (ERT) condition, the participant will instead describe in vivid details events that have occurred in the recent past.

Episodic Recent Thinking (ERT)

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Be the parent of a child between the ages of 6-10
• Willing to participate in the study
• Able to participate in written assessments and an intervention conducted in English
• Are receiving services at Flint or Saginaw Odyssey House ("Odyssey House")
• Be willing to receive check-ins regarding intervention content over the two weeks following the intervention
• Can legally consent for the child to take part in the study and have regular contact with their child

You may not qualify if:

• Self-disclosed active suicidality/homicidality
• Self-disclosed current bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or psychosis
• Study enrollment with more than 1 child

Sponsors & Collaborators

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

Study Sites (1)

Odyssey Village

Flint, Michigan, 48502, United States

Location

Related Publications (7)

• Dassen FC, Houben K, Jansen A. Time orientation and eating behavior: Unhealthy eaters consider immediate consequences, while healthy eaters focus on future health. Appetite. 2015 Aug;91:13-9. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2015.03.020. Epub 2015 Mar 23.

  PMID: 25814191 BACKGROUND

• Felton JW, Kofler MJ, Lopez CM, Saunders BE, Kilpatrick DG. The emergence of co-occurring adolescent polysubstance use and depressive symptoms: A latent growth modeling approach. Dev Psychopathol. 2015 Nov;27(4 Pt 1):1367-83. doi: 10.1017/S0954579414001473.

  PMID: 26439081 BACKGROUND

• Felton JW, Collado A, Cinader M, Lejuez CW, Chronis-Tuscano A, Yi R. Exposure to maternal depressive symptoms and growth in adolescent substance use: The mediating role of delay discounting. Dev Psychopathol. 2021 Oct;33(4):1279-1289. doi: 10.1017/S0954579420000486.

  PMID: 32519638 BACKGROUND

• Felton JW, Collado A, Ingram KM, Doran K, Yi R. Improvement of Working Memory is a Mechanism for Reductions in Delay Discounting Among Mid-Age Individuals in an Urban Medically Underserved Area. Ann Behav Med. 2019 Oct 7;53(11):988-998. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaz010.

  PMID: 30955043 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

• Moreland, A.M., Felton, J.F., Hanson, R.F., Jackson, C., & Dumas, J.E. (2016). The relation between parenting stress and parenting locus of control: Mechanisms of change in parenting interventions. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25, 2046-2054.

  BACKGROUND

• Stein JS, Wilson AG, Koffarnus MN, Daniel TO, Epstein LH, Bickel WK. Unstuck in time: episodic future thinking reduces delay discounting and cigarette smoking. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2016 Oct;233(21-22):3771-3778. doi: 10.1007/s00213-016-4410-y. Epub 2016 Aug 23.

  PMID: 27553824 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Health Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator; Associate Scientist

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 19, 2023
• First Posted: July 27, 2023
• Study Start: September 1, 2023
• Primary Completion: December 1, 2025
• Study Completion: December 1, 2025
• Last Updated: November 26, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-10

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)