PLAY-BEHAVIOR IN TODDLERS WITH IN-UTERO COCAINE EXPOSURE - A PROSPECTIVE, MASKED, CONTROLLED-STUDY

Play behavior was compared between toddlers with in utero cocaine expo sure and controls of similar low socioeconomic status enrolled at birt h in a prospective, masked study. At 18 and 24 months, 83 cocaine-expo sed and 93 control toddlers were videotaped playing on their own for 1 5 minutes. An observer who was off-site and unaware of project purpose or drug exposure status of toddlers recorded the most cognitively com plex play activity per 15-second interval. In a total of 315 play sess ions, the groups did not differ in middle and highest level of play ac hieved at either 18 or 24 months (p greater than or equal to .27). Aft er controlling for confounders, the proportions of play behavior in ea ch of six play categories were similar in the two groups at both 18 an d 24 months (p greater than or equal to .42). We conclude that in uter o cocaine exposure was not associated with differences in play behavio r in this cohort of cocaine-exposed and control toddlers.