PILOT-STUDY OF BEHAVIORAL AND EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCES IN THE HIGH-RISK CHILDREN OF PARENTS WITH OPIOID DEPENDENCE

Objective: Despite the prevalence of nonalcohol substance abuse disorders, few data are available on the high-risk children of parents with these disorders. To this end as a preliminary study, children of opioid-dependent parents were assessed on measures of emotional and behavioral problems. Method: Child Behavior Checklist data from 15 girls and 29 boys (mean age 10.4 years) from 27 families of parents receiving treatment in a methadone maintenance clinic were compared with matched data from referred children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: plus comorbid psychiatric disorders (''comorbid ADHD children'') and medically referred children without ADHD (''controls''). Results: The children of opioid-dependent parents had significantly poorer competency scores, and higher scores on both Internalizing and Externalizing subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist, compared with controls (p values < .01), but not compared with comorbid ADHD children. Twenty-four children (55%) of opioid-dependent parents had elevated subscale scores indicative of significant psychopathology. Conclusions: These pilot data seem to indicate that the 4- to 18-year-old children of parents with opioid dependence have high rates of psychopathology and significant dysfunction and suggest the need for further controlled studies in this population.