Effects of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure (PCE) on School Performance - Research Paper Example

It is expected that PCE can affect school performance and behavior by affecting motor performance and abnormal reflexes, social behaviors and behavior management (including inhibitory control), short-term spatial memory and other memory tasks, substance use tendency, and attention.Prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) has been found to have deleterious effects on affected infants’ brains and subsequent cognitive and behavioral development (Beeghly et al., 2014; Hurt et al., 2009; Lu et al., 2012; Rando et al., 2013). These effects, in turn, can negatively shape school performance (Accornero et al.

, 2011; Minnes et al., 2010; Richardson et al., 2011). Cocaine is one of the most frequently used psychoactive drugs for child-bearing-age women, thus, it is not surprising that numerous studies are showing how pregnant women continue to use it and how it affects their infants (Lester et al., 2010; Lu et al., 2012). At the same time, cocaine use is also connected to co-substance abuse, including smoking, drinking, and marijuana use (Accornero et al., 2011; Lu et al., 2012). With cocaine and other substance use/abuses, the development of fetuses and succeeding development trajectories are important subjects for neurologists and psychologists (Beeghly et al.

, 2014; Hurt et al., 2009; Lu et al., 2012; Rando et al., 2013). Current studies are exploring how PCE impacts the brain and how brain changes affect children’s social, cognitive, and emotional development (Accornero et al., 2011; Beeghly et al., 2014; Hurt et al., 2009; Lu et al., 2012; Rando et al., 2013).Despite the existence of numerous studies on PCE effects on infants, children, and adolescents, there is a gap in the literature for studies that aim to understand the connections between theories about neuropsychology and experimental findings and different academic and social outcomes, and the contextualization of the limitations of PCE-effects studies.