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Prenatal cocaine and other substance exposure: Effects on infant autonomic regulation at 7 months of age
Author(s) -
Schuetze Pamela,
Eiden Rina D.,
Coles Claire D.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.20215
Subject(s) - prenatal cocaine exposure , vagal tone , affect (linguistics) , psychology , prenatal exposure , heart rate , physiology , association (psychology) , pregnancy , medicine , developmental psychology , gestation , autonomic nervous system , blood pressure , communication , biology , psychotherapist , genetics
Abstract This study examined the association between prenatal exposure to cocaine and autonomic regulation at 7 months of age. Heart rate (HR) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were obtained from 154 (79 exposed, and 75 nonexposed) infants during baseline and tasks designed to elicit positive and negative affect. Cocaine‐exposed infants had higher HR during the positive affect task. There was a significant suppression of RSA during the negative affect task for nonexposed infants but not for exposed infants. Fetal growth and maternal caregiving behavior did not mediate or moderate this association. These results provide additional support for an association between prenatal cocaine exposure and dysregulation during infancy. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 276–289, 2007.