The Effects of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure on Mother--Infant Interaction and 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 behaviors were measured during play and attention-getting tasks. The effects of three different social stimulation conditions, provided by the mothers to maintain infant states more conducive to interaction, were also investigated. The cocaine-exposed infants were asleep or distressed for significantly longer periods than their drug-free counterparts. Mothers who used cocaine spent significantly more time disengaged from, and passively looking at, their infants than did the drug-free group.