THE EFFECTS OF PRENATAL COCAINE EXPOSURE ON MOTHER-INFANT INTERACTIONAND INFANT AROUSAL IN THE NEWBORN PERIOD

This study compared the interactive behavior of cocaine-using mothers and their neonates with a control group of drug-free mothers and their newborns. Infant arousal levels and infant-maternal interaction behav iors were measured during play and attention-getting tasks. The effect s of three different social stimulation conditions, provided by the mo thers to maintain infant states more conducive to interaction, were al so investigated. The cocaine-exposed infants were asleep or distressed for significantly longer periods than their drug-free counterparts. M others who used cocaine spent significantly more time disengaged from, and passively looking at, their infants than did the drug-free group.