EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN COCAINE EXPOSED CHILDREN

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The proposed study, will compare four emotional processes in four-year-old children who have been prenatally exposed to cocaine and a comparison group. Specifically, the present study will examine whether the children in the two groups differ in affect expression in play and daily behavior, emotional regulation, and emotional understanding. Furthermore, interrelationships among these emotional processes will be studied within the groups. The present investigation will include 128 four-year-old children (64 cocaine-exposed and 64 non-cocaine-exposed) and their mothers and/or caregivers. Each child will participate in a standardized play situation, identify emotional expressions and emotional situations, and wait six minutes before obtaining a desired object. Mothers and/or caregivers will be asked to complete a questionnaire about the child's emotional intensity in daily behavior. Data will be analyzed to (1) identify and describe group differences in the four emotional processes, (2) examine within-group interrelationships among the four emotional processes, and (3) examine how demographic, environmental risk, and drug exposure variables contribute to outcomes in emotional development. The existing literature has not examined the emotional development of cocaine-exposed children, yet emotional processes may significantly contribute to children's social functioning. A significant contribution of the study will be the development of measures to assess emotional processes in young children in a clinical population. Results will have implications for developing interventions targeted at improving children's affect expression, emotional regulation, and knowledge about emotions.