Prenatal drug exposure: behavioral functioning in late childhood and adolescence

The knowledge base on the long-term implications of prenatal drug exposure in human development is extremely limited, but suggests that children with drug-using parents are at high risk for nonoptimal development. The literature, however, provides some evidence that this risk is related to environmental factors. To date, there is no compelling evidence that history of prenatal drug exposure affects long-term development either directly or through transactions with experimental factors. This chapter has discussed how study of the long-term development of drug-exposed children requires careful conceptualization of issues of change and continuity in development as well as the role of biology and experience in development. Consideration of these issues will lead to fuller scientific understanding of development and also help the scientific literature better address questions of relevance to clinicians, program planners, and policymakers who are concerned with the welfare of drug-exposed children.