THE EFFECTS OF POLYDRUG USE WITH AND WITHOUT COCAINE ON MOTHER-INFANTINTERACTION AT 3 AND 6 MONTHS

The face-to-face interactions of 43 polydrug-with-cocaine-using mother s and their infants at 3 and 6 months were compared to 17 non-cocaine- but other-drug-using mothers and 21 mothers who used no drugs during t heir pregnancy. Coders blind to mothers' drug use status scored 3 min of face-to-face interactions for 16 measures of maternal and infant in teractive behaviors. A principal component of 7 behaviors formed a mea sure of maternal attentiveness; a principal component of 5 behaviors f ormed a measure of mother-infant dyadic organization; and a principal component of 4 behaviors formed a measure of infant readiness to inter act. A measure of maternal interruption was computed as the mean stand ard score of 3 additional interruptive behaviors. At 3 and 6 months, p olydrug-with-cocaine-using mothers were less attentive to interactions , and polydrug-with-cocaine-using mothers and their infants engaged in fewer dyadic interactions than either non-cocaine or non-drug-using m others. Compared to 3 months, polydrug-with-cocaine-using mothers at 6 months were less attentive to interactions and more frequently interr upted interactions by looking away, redirecting the infant, or withdra wing, whereas non-cocaine-using and non-drug-using mothers showed no c hange or an improvement in attentiveness to interactions and a decreas e in interruptions. No differences emerged in the interactive behavior s of the infants of polydrug-with-cocaine-using, non-cocaine-using, or non-drug-using mothers. Cocaine use represents a significant risk for diminished parental attentiveness and responsiveness to infants and f or diminished interactiveness in infants.