Polydrug-using adolescent mothers and their infants receiving early intervention.

This study investigated the effects of an intervention for polydrug-using adolescent mothers. The program included educational, vocational, and parenting classes; social and drug rehab; and day care for their infants while they attended school half-day. The drug-exposed infants were similar to the nonexposed infants on traditional birth measures, although they had inferior Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale scores, including habituation, orientation, abnormal reflexes, general irritability, and regulatory capacity. The drug-exposed infants also spent less time in quiet sleep and more time crying and showing stress behaviors. Both the mothers and the infants in the drug groups demonstrated inferior interactions, and their dopamine and serotonin levels were significantly higher. As early as 3 months (following 3 months of intervention), the drug rehab mothers and their infants looked more like the nondrug group in their interactions; by 6 months, they looked similar on virtually every measure. At 12 months, the infants of drug rehab mothers (versus the drug control group) had superior Early Social Communication Scale scores and Bayley Mental scale scores, as well as significantly greater head circumference and fewer pediatric complications. The drug rehab mothers also improved on several lifestyle variables. They demonstrated a lower incidence of continued drug use and repeat pregnancy, and a greater number continued school, received a high school or general equivalency diploma, or were placed in a job. Thus, a relatively cost-effective high school based intervention had positive effects on both adolescent mothers who had used drugs and their infants.

PIP: The impact of an early childhood intervention program on polydrug-abusing US adolescent mothers and their infants was evaluated. The program, which was located in a vocational school attended by the mothers, included drug rehabilitation, social skills training, parenting classes, job training, and relaxation therapy. Outcomes in 126 drug-exposed mothers 16-21 years of age who participated in the program were compared to those recorded among non-drug-using adolescent mothers who participated in the program and drug-using control mothers who did not participate. All three groups were similar in terms of age, education, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity, but drug-abusing mothers had higher rates of depression and stress. At baseline, drug-exposed infants had lower scores on the measures of habituation, orientation, abnormal reflexes, general irritability, and regulatory capacity on the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. Drug-exposed infants spent less time sleeping and more time crying and showing stress behaviors. The drug groups also had lower Optimal Interaction Rating Scale scores for both mothers and infants. Their dopamine and serotonin levels were higher than those recorded among non-drug-using mothers and their cortisol levels were lower. However, after 6 months of participation in the intervention program, the drug-using mothers had Beck Depression Inventory scores and interaction ratings that approached those of non-drug-using mothers and exceeded those among drug-using controls. Similar trends were observed for infants' head circumference and scores on the Early Social Communication Scale and the Bayley Mental Status Scale. Moreover, drug-using adolescent mothers who participated in the program demonstrated a lower incidence of repeat pregnancy and continued drug use than those who were not enrolled in the program; moreover, they were more likely to receive their high school diploma and be placed in jobs. Interventions such as this have the potential to attenuate the developmental delays of infants of drug-exposed adolescents.

Depressed mothers' touching increases infants' positive affect and attention in still-face interactions.

The effects of depressed mothers' touching on their infants' behavior were investigated during the still-face situation. 48 depressed and nondepressed mothers and their 3-month-old infants were randomly assigned to control and experimental conditions. 4 successive 90-sec periods were implemented: (A) normal play, (B) still-face-no-touch, (C) still-face-with-touch, and (A) normal play. Depressed and nondepressed mothers were instructed and shown how to provide touch for their infants during the still-face-with-touch period. Different affective and attentive responses of the infants of depressed versus the infants of nondepressed mothers were observed. Infants of depressed mothers showed more positive affect (smiles and vocalizations) and gazed more at their mothers' hands during the still-face-with-touch period than the infants of nondepressed mothers, who grimaced, cried, and gazed away from their mothers' faces more often. The results suggest that by providing touch stimulation for their infants, the depressed mothers can increase infant positive affect and attention and, in this way, compensate for negative effects often resulting from their typical lack of affectivity (flat facial and vocal expressions) during interactions.

B. F. Skinner's legacy to human infant behavior and development.

B. F. Skinner's legacy to human behavioral research for the study of environment-infant interactions, and indeed for the conception of development itself, is described and exemplified. The legacy is largely the practicality, the efficiency, and the comparative advantage--relative to diverse other behavioral and nonbehavioral approaches--of using the operant-learning paradigm to organize and explain many of the sequential changes in behavior patterns conventionally thought to constitute infant development.