Prenatal Exposure

The quality of life for these children is unfortunately not the best. They can have limb, facial, and organ defects, and will have stunted physical growth throughout young adult life. Prenatal exposure can also have a negative effect on motor skills, especially fine motor tasks such as writing and balancing. The disabilities depend on the mother and her drinking habits. The children of heavy drinkers while pregnant, have many more developmental problems than of those whose mother was a light drinker. The most common problems among these children with alcohol exposure are with balance, coordination, and how they are able to play and handle a ball.

Growing up in the household under substances influence can cause severe damage to the child. Parental substance abuse has a significant impact on family function, and it may also contribute to child maltreatment. It heightens the risks to both of the physical and emotional safety of the children, and it generates children’s problematic outcomes. Children who grow up in such families may also experience mental health issues, social isolation, financial difficulties, and exposure to stressful life events and so on.

Effects may vary depending on family structure, manifesting differently in individual family members; According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse both alcohol and drugs can have dramatic negative effects on a developing fetus. They have been linked with premature birth, decreased head circumference, brain functioning difficulties and low

The use of illicit drugs and abuse of alcohol exact a steep price from our society. Substance abuse is a factor in many serious ills such as crime. More upsetting, however, is the affects that it has on children born affected from their dependent mothers. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 60 percent of women of childbearing age consume alcoholic beverages despite the fact that alcohol consumption during pregnancy is implicated in a wide range of birth defects and developmental disabilities, including mental retardation, physical abnormalities, and visual and auditory impairments. (Nevitt, 1996)

Sood, B., Delaney-Black, V., Covington, C., Nordstrom-Klee, B., Ager, J., Templin, T., . . . Sokol, R. J. (2001). Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Childhood Behavior at Age 6 to 7 Years: I. Dose-Response Effect. Pediatrics, 108(2). doi:10.1542/peds.108.2.e34

Another considerable factor of this problem is the influence these substances have on children. Alcoholism in the home is an extremely hard issue to cope with as a child. Domestic violence, which is often worsened by alcohol abuse, causes a lot of mental issues that affect children permanently. Many kids do not have a stable home and are forced to see their parents and loved ones struggle with drinking (Hopkins 7). Suffering through the effects of drugs and alcohol also make education a challenge. Children often times stay home from school or are inattentive during class due to lack of sleep from late-night parties or rowdiness at home.This makes it almost impossible to succeed later in life and lets the problem continue onto the next generation.

Social and familial effects. While NAS is a heartbreaking and disadvantageous outcome of maternal addiction, it is not the only outcome seen in children. Infants born to dependent mothers who evaded NAS are still at a higher risk of poorer childhood development and lifelong outcomes because of the unhealthy and damaging lifestyle of opioid addiction and familial stress. Through the use of psychiatric and family functioning evaluations, one study found children of opioid dependent mothers or parents showed a significantly higher rate of psychopathologies such as depression and anxiety as compared to those without familial substance abuse and children of alcoholics (Wilens et al., 2002). These children have a much more difficult time growing,

Even though there are many studies that highlight the damaging effects of maternal alcohol use on a fetus in utero, there are a multitude of other substances that are used by pregnant mothers that have similar and even, in some cases, more extreme repercussions such as marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. When speaking about pregnancy and drug use, the most common drug that comes to mind is alcohol. During 12 years of schooling, most people are exposed, at one point or another, to the idea of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and the detrimental effects of alcohol on a fetus in utero. The effects of maternal use of the aforementioned illicit drugs is less studied, partially because they are used less frequently. It is important, however, that as a population, we become more educated about these drugs and the potentially life threatening outcomes for babies in utero.

However, to understand the impact of adversity on young children’s development and learning, our genes supply the basic blueprint for brain development. “Thus, toxic stress in early childhood not only is a risk factor for later risky behavior but also can be a direct source of biological injury or disruption that may have lifelong consequences independent of whatever circumstances might follow later in life (Shonoff and Garner, 2012, page 238). Poverty, neglect, or family stress can make it especially difficult for young children to develop the self-discipline and habits of mind they will need to succeed in the classroom and beyond. Researchers have found that chronic, sustained stress, such as that caused by neglect, abuse, or deprivation,

On September 13th, we discussed various topics within the field of the brain, biology, and development. Topics ranged from prenatal cocaine exposure and cortisol reactivity in infants to adolescent risk-taking. I particularly enjoyed Eiden and colleagues’ article the most out of the assigned articles. Eiden and colleagues conducted a study examining the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on infant hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity and reactivity at seven months old (Eiden et al., pg 528). They hypothesized that infants exposed to cocaine would have higher cortisol reactivity and would have a slower recovery in response compared to those in the control group. They also hypothesized that caregiving instability may moderate

Sood, B. Delaney-Black, V. (2001). Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Childhood Behavior at Age 6 to 7 Years: I. Dose- Response Effect.

The first, that screening children who have knowingly been exposed to alcohol before birth is crucial to understanding and predicting their development and the impact that alcohol exposure may have on them. Although it goes without saying that not all expectant mothers will disclose their drinking habits to their physicians, knowing that all children, regardless of a fetal alcohol syndrome diagnosis, should be cautiously monitored for delays is critical to supporting their development. In relation to this idea, there should be a higher importance placed on prevention and campaigning against fetal alcohol syndrome as well as more accessible intervention services. It is easy to assume that everyone is mindful of the dangers of drinking while pregnant, however it should not undermine the need for public awareness, especially because this study showed that even minor alcohol exposure is capable of causing developmental challenges. Public health services, such as screening for potential prenatal issues, should be available to everyone regardless of socioeconomic status. Lastly, the results of this study showed that many more children were eligible for intervention services than previously thought. “In many states documented delays of 25% or more in 1 area of development, including the motor area, will qualify a child for early intervention services” (Kalberg et al. 2006, p. 2043). Many of these children displayed delays

Substance abuse disorders are significant public health concerns and rank among the most common psychiatric disorders beginning in young adulthood. Substance abuse is considered low or infrequent doses of alcohol or drugs such that damaging consequences are rare or minor (Child Welfare, 2012). Such abuse can cause social, mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. Although there are numerous studies that discuss issues of substance abuse, there is a lack of response towards childhood development impacted by parental substance use disorder (PSUD). PSUD impacts the child’s physical, psychological, social, and behavioral development. Based on data from 2002 to 2007, approximately 7.3 million children lived with a parent who was dependent on or abused alcohol and about 2.2 million lived with a parent who was dependent on or abused illicit drugs (SAMSHA, 2009).

Another important part of this study was looking at how these effects occurred during different stages of prenatal development, as the “consequences of prenatal maternal stress were determined by the

Children can be subjected to the negative effects of parental substance use in a variety of different ways. For example, substance use during pregancy can cause detrimental outcomes for newborn infants by placing them at a higher risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), being born with birth defects, developing behavioral and developmental delays, being born premature, etc. Children with addicted parents, are placed at a higher risk of: lacking appropriate supervision; lacking basic needs such as: food, clothing, housing, and medical care; exposure to violence; developing substance abuse issues themselves.