Effects of cumulative prenatal substance exposure and environmental risks on children's developmental trajectories

Examined the effects of cumulative prenatal substance exposure and cumulati ve environmental risk on the developmental trajectories of 278 infants, tod dlers, and preschool children. Results indicated that both cumulative risk indexes were significantly correlated. Results also indicated that both ind exes were related to decrements in developmental trajectories (intercept an d slope) from 3 to 57 months of age. Both prenatal exposure and environment al risk added unique variance to the prediction of developmental level and rate of growth when entered after covariates (i.e., birth weight and sex). However, across a number of models with and without covariates, environment al risk accounted for more variance in developmental trajectories than did prenatal exposure. Implications are discussed.