Statistics show that an estimated 5.9 percent of women use drugs, 15.9 percent smoke cigarettes, and 8.5 percent drink alcohol at least once during pregnancy, according to a study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2013). If drug and alcohol use by a pregnant woman continues and goes unnoticed by family members or doctors, the mental and physical development of their child has the potential to be extremely severe (Brady, Posner, Lang, Rosati, 1994). In this current paper, the effects of prenatal exposure to illicit drugs, non-illicit drugs, and alcohol on language development are investigated. The illicit drugs that will be investigated include marijuana, MDMA, and cocaine. Non-illicit drugs investigated include nicotine, and several types of anti-depressants. It is hypothesized that language development is negatively-effected, non-effected, or positively-effected by prenatal drug exposure based upon what drug is taken by the mother during pregnancy and the dose of the drug taken. Each of the subsequent research studies will help to provide evidence that supports the hypothesis at hand.
In the study conducted by Bandstra et al. (2002), the researchers looked to investigate the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on children’s language development overtime. The study consisted of 253 African-American mother-child groups who were exposed to cocaine, and 207 African-American mother-child groups who were not exposed to cocaine. Each mother-child group came from poor areas of Miami. In order to determine the amount of cocaine that each child was exposed to, each mother was interviewed about when they used cocaine during pregnancy, the amount of cocaine they used, and how many days per...
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...2002). Polydrug use among secondary school students: Combinations, prevalences and risk profiles. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 9, 355-365.
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Its ability to inhibit phosphodiestarase type 1 leading to an increase in the concentration of cyclic AMP which is thought to result in its vasodilator effects
“Crack-babies” a media induced phenomena brought about by the climax of public outcry from the results of the 1980’s war on drugs. This term laid the foundation for biased prosecutions which sparked a political crusade during climate of the time. Thus exploiting the public’s fear of children born to substance addicted mother and creating a firestorm of litigation to prosecute pregnant drug addicts. According to Flavin, Paltrow (2010), current evidence points to public stigmas and prejudice as posing a greater danger to both maternal and fetal health than use of the drug itself. Leaving the question as to why addicted women are still publicly reviled for the outcomes of their circumstances. From this abhorrence stems the likelihood that these women would be deterred from seeking prenatal care than to seek help for their addiction; expelling an even greater issue as the concern of health care is then added to the mix. The complex social issues then must be taken into consideration to underscore the need for policymakers to allow for the legal and medical systems to better create programs for these women and allot for rehabilitation instead of punitive solutions.
“This knowledge will help us design drugs that mimic the viral effects on these proteins to either activate a host’s immune response or shut it down,” said Dr. Michael Gale, associate ...
Just as drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and crystal meth affect the mother, it also affects the child. Babies that are born to drug using mothers are called “drug babies” and just like their mother they become addicted to the drugs causing behavior problems during their childhood. They can also have birth defects, premature birth, and are usually underweight. Babies that are born to cocaine using mothers are called “crack babies” and they face the risk of a stroke leading to brain damage. Teratogenic medications such as some antibiotics, cancer fighting medicines, blood thinners, and acne fighting medicines such as Accutane can all cause birth
... excluded potential risk factors for preterm birth including previous pregnancies and multiple births. Thus, these results should only be applied to the risk of alcohol consumption for primiparous mothers with singleton pregnancies. However, despite the lack of risks identified in this study, alcohol use during pregnancy has been linked to disabilities. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP, 2011), its adverse effects include fetal alcohol syndrome, learning disabilities, social ineptness, depression, and anxiety. The AACAP strongly recommends against pregnant women consuming any form of alcohol at any level. Despite the data presented by Dale et al. (2016), the question of the other risks of alcohol consumption on the fetus was not explored and thus alcohol use during pregnancy should not be condoned solely based on this study.
One illicit drug that has gone through extensive research is cocaine. Prenatal cocaine exposure has shown to affect the baby physically (defects including eye, bone, genital, urinary tract, kidney, heart deformities, as well as brain hemorrhages) and cognitively (through mental delays, motor, attention, and language problems) (Berk, 2003). Cocaine affects the child subtly but significantly because of what the drug does to the body of both the mother and the growing fetus.
Thomas, Janet Y. Educating Drug Exposed Children: The Aftermath of the Crack Baby Crisis. Ed. Routledge. 2004. University of Phoenix. 3 April 2008 .
Drugs cause an overall disturbance in a subjects’ physiological, psychological and emotional health. “At the individual level, drug abuse creates health hazards for the user, affecting the educational and general development of youths in particular” (“Fresh Challenge”). In youth specifically, drug abuse can be triggered by factors such as: a parent’s abusive behavior, poor social skills, family history of alcoholism or substance abuse, the divorce of parents or guardians, poverty, the death of a loved one, or even because they are being bullied at school (“Drugs, brains, and behavior”) .
Child development can be negatively influenced by risk factors, including hereditary and environmental factors. Some pre-natal environment factors related to mothers during pregnancy include: nutritional deficiencies, diabetic mother, drug and alcohol use, and more. Some post-natal environment factors include: socio-economic status of the family, child’s nutrition, family structure, child’s emotions, and more. Malnutrition, maternal depression, and maternal substance abuse are three of these factors which have received particular attention by researchers, however, many more factors have been
With a wide variety of studies and research, it has been shown that socioeconomic status can affect a child’s health even before they are born. This theory comes from a study by Hackman, Farah and Meaney (2010) in which researchers identified three classes of mechanism that SES effects on cognitive development. The first class that they recognized is the prenatal influences. If a low- SES mother does...
All drugs, legal or illegal, are considered to be harmful to the fetus and should be taken with caution and under the doctor’s direct orders only. Drugs can be anything as simple as a cigarette to a major substance like heroin and cocaine. Most mothers who do drugs during their pregnancy don’t think about the detrimental effects they could be causing to their baby. Any amount of these forbidden substances can leave an everlasting effect on the precious defenseless baby. Most women know that when you are pregnant your hormones vary greatly, but when a woman is pregnant it also ...
When infants are acquiring their first language, adults speak to them differently than they would speak to other adults. This kind of speech is formally named “Infant-Directed speech”, but is also referred to as “baby talk” and “motherese”. Infant-Directed (ID) speech has several properties that distinguish it from Adult-Directed (AD) speech. There is a debate over whether or not ID speech helps infants acquire language or is a hindrance in their language acquisition process Several experiments have been performed to test the effect of ID speech on infants’ language learning. These experiments all used different properties of ID speech. Overall, the experiments have proved that ID speech helps infants acquire language better than AD speech for different reasons. Further studies can be performed on ID speech to learn more about its effects on second language acquisition and on different ages.
Language Development in Children Language is a multifaceted instrument used to communicate an unbelievable number of different things. Primary categories are information, direction, emotion, and ceremony. While information and direction define cognitive meaning, emotional language expresses emotional meaning. Ceremonial language is mostly engaged with emotions, but at some level information and direction collection may be used to define a deeper meaning and purpose. There is perhaps nothing more amazing than the surfacing of language in children.
Another tragic and very important issue ate the " Crack Babies". A crack baby is a child born to a mother who was smoking crack during her pregnancy and up until the time of birth. The infant is addicted at birth, suffers withdrawal agonies, and continues to suffer from developmental abnormalities. These tragedies occur at too high a rate no matter how many there are… The 1991 Household Survey data estimated that about 280,000 women of all ages might have used crack at some time during the year.