The Scientist Development Award (SDA) is requested to enable the candidate to develop an independent program of research in the area of maternal substance abuse and child development. More specifically, the candidate is interested in understanding the impact of maternal substance use on parenting and the caregiving environment of drug exposed children. Four major career development goals are proposed for the SDA period. First, candidate will become familiar with the literature on the psychological and pharmacological effects of illicit drugs on adult behavior and on the developing fetus. Second, two preliminary studies will be conducted during the SDA period. The major purpose of these studies will be to gain supervised research experience with drug using women, their children, and the environmental context in which these children are raised. These studies will also inform the design and methodology for a RO1 proposal on substance using mothers and their children. The third career development plan is to obtain training in the use and coding of specific observational paradigms. These paradigms will be used in the research program to examine child temperament and naturally occurring interactions within substance using families. Lastly, coursework in longitudinal data analytic techniques will allow for more sophisticated analyses of longitudinal data collected during the SDA period and planned for the research program. These career development activities will be conducted at the Research Institute on Addictions, which has a history of fostering the development of independent researchers in the substance abuse field. The majority of mothers and newborns tested for drugs at local area hospitals tend to be from lower SES, African-American or Hispanic families. Thus, the first preliminary study will focus on adapting existing measures to incorporate the effects of impoverished living conditions and minority group status on the caregiving environment. The major purpose of the second study will be to generate descriptive information about parenting and caregiving environments of drug exposed infants across the first year of life and the ways in which these factors influence the social-emotional development of drug exposed infants. The theoretical formulations regarding the role of these psychosocial/environmental factors on the development of children of substance using mothers will be used to guide this program of research (Hans, 1991; Marcus & Hans, 1982). This perspective necessitates a longitudinal design to assess long-term consequences of maternal substance use. It also emphasizes the importance of understanding the factors that moderate and/or mediate the relationship between maternal substance use and child development. An increased understanding of these factors and the ways in which they contribute to development across the childhood years may be used to design prevention and intervention programs.
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