Maternal cocaine use and the caregiving environment during early childhood

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of the caregiving envi ronment for young children of polydrug cocaine-using mothers. Three aspects of the caregiving environment were examined: physical and social settings for development, maternal psychosocial functioning, and child rearing custo ms and attitudes. It was hypothesized that maternal cocaine use would be as sociated with more negative caregiving environments. Results indicated that cocaine-using mothers were more likely to have symptoms of posttraumatic s tress disorder, experience or witness community violence, and use negative discipline and that their children were more likely to remain in foster car e for longer periods of time, experience more changes in primary caregivers , and be visited by male caregivers less often. The implications of these f indings for child adjustment and directions for future research are discuss ed.