Whew, what a relief!
Many predicted the
80s crack epidemic would create a generation
of children with major developmental and behavioral problems, but a new study
has found much of the hype hasn't panned out.
Researchers from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of
Maryland School of Medicine found that the effects of cocaine in utero had only
small effects on adolescent behavior, cognition and school performance.
Other factors such as poverty and exposure to violence had a
bigger effect on a teenagers' behavioral and mental development, the researchers
found.
The study was published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
The researchers looked at 27 studies around the country that
followed babies exposed to cocaine while in utero into adolescence.
Studies among adolescents are important because there are
additional cognitive and social skills, such as abstract reasoning, that take
shape during adolescence and would not have been evident earlier in childhood,
the researchers said.
