The impact of Maternal Mentalizing on Racial Trauma and Substance Use Risk for Black Mothers in the United States

Maternal substance use disorder (SUD) is a significant and growing public health problem in the US. Maternal substance use destabilizes families, places children at higher risk for poor developmental outcomes, and contributes to more than $700 billion in national healthcare costs annually. Despite these realities, mothers with substance use difficulties remain an understudied and underserved population. For Black mothers in the US, the lack of research on risk factors, protective factors, and effective treatment elements intensifies this pervasive public health problem. For example, while a growing body of research demonstrates the negative effects of racism-related trauma on a wide range of health outcomes, no quantitative studies and only a handful of qualitative studies have examined the contributions of racism-related trauma to maternal substance use outcomes in Black women. Trauma history and current trauma-related symptoms are some of the most robust risk factors for maternal SUD.Like other forms of trauma, racism-related trauma likely impacts maternal SUD risk, amplifying and compounding the effects of other stressors, including parenting stress, another known maternal SUD risk factor. In response, this paper aims to highlight the relationships between prevalent risk factors for Black maternal substance use and discusses maternal mentalizing as a potential protective factor.