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

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.