Cocaine use among women of child bearing age has significantly increased over the past several years. Consequently, the number of infants born prenatally exposed to cocaine has also risen. The influence of prenatal cocaine exposure on child development and the influence of maternal cocaine addiction on parenting are only beginning to be explored. However the effects of prenatal and postnatal maternal cocaine use place these dyads at risk for impaired interaction, and these infants at risk for developmental delay. The present study is a longitudinal investigation of infant development and mother-infant interaction in 25 cocaine-affected dyads over the first 9 postnatal months. The goals of this research were to provide descriptive data about infant development and mother-infant interaction in cocaine-affected dyads, and to investigate the relation between these two factors over the first 9 months of life. Infant cognitive and motor development was assessed at 4, 6, and 9 months. Mother-infant interaction measured in feeding and teaching situations, was assessed at 1, 4, 6 and 9 months. In general, the cognitive and motor development of these infants was in the normal range at each testing. Evidence was provided that maternal postnatal drug use was associated with lower cognitive scores in infants. Cognitive and motor development in the present sample was consistent over time. Mother-infant interaction in both feeding and teaching contexts was found to be below the tenth percentile established in standardization research, indicating risk and need for intervention. In addition, the quality of interaction in the present sample was lower than that in two high-risk samples of previous research. Feeding interaction quality was consistent over time, whereas interaction in the teaching situation showed significant improvement between 6 and 9 months. The relation between infant development and mother-infant interaction was found to be complex. However there was some evidence that child development had a more important influence on interaction quality than interaction quality had on child development. The implications of these results for future research and intervention are discussed / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_25164 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Contributors | Blackwell, Patricia Lynn (Author), Lockman, Jeffrey (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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