A Correlational Study on the Delayed Effects of Maternal Drug and Alcohol Abuse During Pregnancy on the Preschool-Aged Child

• Main Author: Friedrich, Sheri E.
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1990
• Subjects: Psychology; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3155; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4152&context=uop_etds

Few research studies have looked at the delayed effects of maternal drug and/ or alcohol abuse during pregnancy on the 3 to 6 year old child . Drug and/ or alcohol abuse during pregnancy has been linked to increased problems during the neonatal period and infant stage; however, the presence of long-term effects and their inclusiveness and severity are unclear. The present study discriminated between 20 children of mothers who either abused or did not abuse drugs and/ or alcohol during pregnancy on the following variables: cognitive ability, perceptual-performance skills, motor skills, hyperactivity / attention, impulse control, physical size, soft signs of neurological damage, and behavioral, physical, and medical problems. Although the differences between the means of the dependent variables for the drug/alcohol group and the nondrug group were not statistically significant, they all fell in the predicted direction. The direction of these differences supports all of the proposed hypotheses. Possibly , with a larger sample size and tighter controls on secondary variables, a statistically significant relationship between drug/ alcohol abuse and detrimental effects on later development might have been found.