The effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on mother-infant interaction and infant arousal in the newborn period. Topics Early

This study compared the interactive behavior of cocaine-using moth-ers and their neonates with a control group of drug-free mothers and their newborns. Infant arousal levels and infant-maternal interaction behaviors were measured during play and attention-getting tasks. The effects of three different social stimulation conditions, provided by the mothers to maintain infant states more conducive to interaction, were also investigated. The cocaine-exposed infants were asleep or distressed for significantly longer periods than their drug-free coun-terparts. Mothers who used cocaine spent significantly more time disengaged from, and passively looking at, their infants than did the drug-free group. Recent reports indicate that the use of cocaine in its various forms is still quite prevalent in the United States. Schutter and Brinker (1992) suggested that cocaine is the most common drug used by women of childbearing age. Estimates of the use of cocaine during pregnancy have ranged from 8 % to 10 % (e.g., Gillogley, Evans, Hansen, Samuels, & Batra, 1990) to as high as 3 1 % (e.g., Ostrea, Brady, Gause, Raymundo, & Stevens, 1992). There is evi-dence that neurobehavioral functioning of neonates is affected by prenatal exposure to cocaine (Schutter & Brinker, 1992). These neurobehavioral abnormalities include tremors, irritability, abnor-mal sleep patterns, and feeding difficulties (Oro &c Dixon, 1987). Neonates who have been prenatally exposed to cocaine may exhibit at birth a set of behavioral characteristics that may influ