| The purposes of this study were to determine if differences in cognitive and motor development, as measured by scores on the Infant Mullen Scales of Early Learning (Mullen, 1989) and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II (BSID-II) (Psychological Corporation, 1993), and behavior development, as measured by the Behavior Rating Scale on the BSID-II, exist between infants and toddlers (n = 12) prenatally exposed to cocaine and infants and toddlers (n = 12) not prenatally exposed to cocaine.; The subjects (N = 24) identified to participate in this study were from early intervention agencies and day care centers in the states of Alabama and Texas. The two groups of sample subjects were matched according to the following selection criteria: (a) age, (b) sex, (c) maternal marital status, (d) present residence, and (e) race.; A one-way (group) multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) design was employed in this study. To increase the sensitivity of the multivariate test of main effects, "age" was employed as the covariate. Due to a large number of dependent variables (11) in relation to the sample size, principle component analysis procedures were also conducted. Three principle components were retained for analyses.; Multivariate main effect F values for group and covariant "age" were significant at the.05 level. Significant p {dollar}le{dollar}.05) univariate F "age" values were obtained for principle component 1 (general cognitive and motor development); significant (p {dollar}le{dollar}.05) univariate F group values were obtained for principle component 2 (orientation/engagement factors, emotional/regulation factors, and soothability score). The univariate F values for principle component 3 (orientation/engagement factors) were not significant. Post-hoc "Tukey" Honestly Significant Difference procedures identified that the non-cocaine-exposed group exhibited higher means than cocaine exposed group on principle component 2.; Results of this study indicated that infants and toddlers prenatally exposed to cocaine function within the low-average to average range in cognitive and motor development. However, a relationship existed between prenatally cocaine exposure and subsequent behavior development in this population of young children, and age had no significant effect on behavior development. |
