| Children living with the environmental conditions of poverty and maternal drug abuse are at an increased risk for behavioral and psychosocial problems, such as fewer social skills and adaptive behaviors and more problem behaviors. To examine these factors, the current study evaluated 25 preschool children living in poverty who were prenatally drug-exposed and involved in a comprehensive intervention program, 25 children living in poverty with no known history of family drug abuse, and 25 children from middle income families with no known history of family drug abuse. The primary caregivers completed questionnaires regarding their children's prosocial skills (e.g., cooperation, assertion, responsibility, and self-control), adaptive behavior skills (e.g., communication, daily living skills, socialization, and motor skills), and problem behaviors (e.g., externalizing and internalizing) along with a demographic questionnaire.; The specific aims of the study were (a) to provide longitudinal information regarding the social development of children living in poverty who were prenatally drug-exposed and in an intervention program, (b) to compare the social development of children living in poverty with and without prenatal drug exposure, and (c) to compare the social development among 3 groups of children experiencing different levels of stressors and socioeconomic status.; Longitudinal analyses revealed that the prenatally drug-exposed children living in poverty who received intensive intervention services showed significant improvement in their adaptive behavior skills and prosocial skills of assertion and responsibility, and they displayed fewer internalizing problem behaviors over time. Evidence suggests that the social competency of these children was enhanced by the intervention.; Comparisons among the children living in poverty with and without prenatal drug-exposure revealed no significant differences between the groups on their social skills composite, adaptive behavior composite, total problem behaviors, externalizing behaviors, or internalizing behaviors. However, the children that were prenatally drug-exposed evidenced significantly lower cooperation and self-control prosocial skills than the children with no known history of parental substance abuse.; Analyses among the 3 groups of children with different levels of stressors and socioeconomic status suggested that the children who were prenatally drug-exposed and living in poverty evidenced significantly lower adaptive behavior scores, prosocial skills, cooperation skills, and self-control skills than the children in middle income families. Although the children in middle income tended to have higher scores on most of the social measures than the children living in poverty with no known history of family drug abuse, these 2 groups were not significantly different from each other for any of the social outcome measures.; To conclude, the present research provided evidence of how social competency can be measure in a more comprehensive manner. Knowledge was gained about the longitudinal social development of children living in poverty with prenatal drug-exposure who were in an intervention program. Useful Information regarding important similarities and differences between children living in poverty with and without prenatal drug-exposure was obtained. Last, a greater knowledge of the influence of socioeconomic, cultural, and biological factors on children's social development was achieved. |
