Introduction
Tobacco and alcohol are common substances of misuse during pregnancy. Miscarriage, premature labor, birth abnormalities, stillbirth, postpartum withdrawal symptoms, an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), poor fetal development rate, and cognitive and behavioral issues are all possible outcomes of illicit drug use during pregnancy. Regarding neurobehavioral effects on the developing human brain, alcohol is the worst teratogen (Mattson et al., 2019).
Cocaine use is linked to spontaneous abortions, preterm deliveries, precipitous deliveries, stillbirths, meconium staining, and abruptio placentae. Several adverse pregnancy outcomes, including low birth weight, miscarriage, premature delivery, premature birth, microcephaly, and intrauterine growth retardation, have been linked to heroin use. Most drug abusers partake in more than one vice; a positive marijuana test could point to a potentially dangerous patient. Tobacco and Marijuana use has been linked to several adverse outcomes for both mother and child, including spontaneous abortions, early membrane rupture, preterm delivery, perinatal death, low birth weight children, and developmental delays and behavioral problems (Lallai et al., 2022).
Prenatal drug abuse has been a significant problem across the globe for decades. Drug abuse has posed a series of health risks for the development of the fetus and the later effects on the child’s cognitive functions. This paper profoundly examines the impact of maternal alcohol and cigarette use on offspring growth and development, exploring the later impact on the child’s cognitive functions.
Drug abuse, such as alcohol and tobacco, can potentially disrupt a developing fetus’s brain since they can cross the placenta. Prenatal drug use has long-lasting consequences on brain development and function. These effects can differ when used on a developing nervous system, where homeostatic regulating mechanisms are still fine-tuned (Etemadi-Aleagha & Akhgari, 2022). The fetus’s prenatal environment positively influences development, but sometimes things go awry. This can occur if a teratogen, a substance that disrupts normal development, is present in the background.
Substances with a deleterious effect on development are called teratogens. Substances of abuse, radiation, diseases, and even the mother’s mental health can harm the developing fetus. These drugs negatively impact fetal development. The placenta’s primary function is to prevent harmful substances from reaching the developing fetus, but it is not always successful (Behnke, 2020). How a teratogen affects development depends on several factors, including when and how much exposure there was. The effects of a given teratogen vary greatly depending on when they are introduced throughout fetal development.
Psychologists have developed multiple theories to explain child growth and maturation, particularly in the context of early childhood education and care. These developmental theories explore the various transformations children undergo throughout their formative years, focusing on social, emotional, and cognitive aspects. Child development theories aim to analyze changes in physical and mental health over time (Girnius, 2022), emphasizing the interplay between genetic and environmental influences on growth and behavior.
There are numerous perspectives on human development, with some theories addressing only specific aspects of growth. As research evolves, these ideas continue to be refined. Some scholars seek to understand why certain individuals thrive while others struggle, leading to a wide array of theories regarding childhood development. This article discusses key developmental theories and their most influential proponents, examining how they contribute to understanding children’s ongoing changes (Pagnin et al., 2019).
Theory of Psychosexual Development by Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud is considered the creator of the modern psychoanalytic approach. Freud’s therapeutic experience with people who were mentally ill led him to the conclusion that one’s upbringing and hidden impulses had an impact on one’s actions as an adult. Conflicts that arise during any of these developmental periods can, under Freud’s theory, shape a person’s character and behavior for the rest of their lives. Freud established one of the most well-known overarching ideas of kid growth and development (Weerakoon et al., 2022).
According to Freud’s theory of psychosexual development, there is a natural progression through childhood that centers on various bodily pleasures. Substantial conflicts mark every developmental stage for the youngster. According to his theory, the erogenous zones receive more desired energy at certain times. According to Freud, a person’s behavior as an adult can be affected by their inability to go past a particular developmental stage (Morss, 2020). Freud felt that early experiences had the most significant impact on development, contrary to the claims of specific other theories of child development that say that personality continues to change and expand throughout the entire lifetime. Nature, as Freud saw it, is determined by age five.
Theory of Cognitive Development by Jean Piaget
Changes in a child’s way of thinking are the primary focus of the cognitive theories of child development. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is widely recognized as a leading model of how the human mind works. Jean Piaget created a stage theory of cognitive development, which held that children’s thought processes differ from those of adults (Babakr et al., 2019). An additional crucial point he stated was that kids have a hand in learning about the world.
An essential tenet of this idea is that children are like “little scientists,” building their knowledge and understanding of the world via exploration and experimentation (Hakimzadeh et al., 2021). Piaget helped shift the focus away from the assumption that children’s and adults’ thought processes are identical. He concluded that kids’ and grownups’ ways of thinking are entirely dissimilar. His hypothesis of cognitive development immediately gained widespread attention and recognition. His method considers the four unique phases of development that children go through on their way to becoming adults.
According to Piaget’s theory, there are four developmental phases: The sensorimotor period spans the first two years of a child’s existence. A child’s sensory experiences and motor interactions with the world shape their early development. Children’s minds undergo remarkable stories as they learn more about the world. The years between the ages of two and six are known as the preoperational stage, and they are also a time of fast growth and development. Kids still have difficulty switching perspectives and mentally manipulating information at this age. In this period, a child’s linguistic abilities flourish greatly.
Between the ages of 7 and 11, when they enter the concrete operational stage, children begin to develop more logical mental processes (Kazi & Galanaki, 2019). Even if they have trouble grasping abstract ideas, children are capable of rational thought when faced with actual experiences. From about 12 years old until adulthood, there is a shift toward more hypothetical thinking, known as the formal operational stage. Children have the cognitive capacity to reason about generalizations and organize their future goals methodically. The core ideas of Piaget’s theory are things like schemas, egocentrism, accommodation, and assimilation. How children view themselves, others, and the environment changes significantly as they progress through the many stages of development.
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
Alcohol is a teratogen, meaning it can harm the development of a fetus. Consumption of alcoholic beverages during pregnancy has harmful effects on the developing fetus. Drinking while pregnant is a leading cause of preventable congenital disabilities, and the results can last into adulthood in the form of impairments in physical and mental development (Easey et al., 2019). How much alcohol a pregnant woman consumes, how often she drinks, and at what point in her pregnancy all play a role in the outcome of her unborn child? The stakes are higher at certain junctures than others. The earliest stages of pregnancy are especially vulnerable to teratogens.
The only noticeable effects of alcohol on a newborn are the most severe ones; milder effects may go undetected until the child reaches adolescence. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the most severe outcome of maternal alcohol abuse (FAS). Children with fetal alcohol syndrome experience developmental delays, physical abnormalities, and neurological problems because of prenatal alcohol exposure (Duko et al., 2022).
The presence of a growth delay is a diagnostic criterion for FAS. A common characteristic of children with FAS is their short stature. Children with FAS can be identified by their distinctive facial anomalies, which include small eye openings, a flat or smooth face, a thin upper lip, and a groove between the nose and upper lip that is either flat or smooth.
Deficits in the child’s central nervous system are also a hallmark of the disease. The development of the hippocampus, frontal lobes, corpus callosum, and basal ganglia are all impacted by prenatal alcohol exposure. The child’s intelligence is affected by how it affects the brain’s structure while still in the womb. Children with FAS score higher than average on language tests but lower than average on math and attention tests (Paul et al., 2021).
Prenatal alcohol abuse can permanently alter a child’s physical and mental growth. Small for their age, with distinctive facial anomalies and developmental delays in the central nervous system, these are the hallmarks of children who meet the clinical definition of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The effects of alcohol on all three methods are similar in children exposed to alcohol during pregnancy but not in those who developed FAS.
Maternal characteristics (such as age and comorbid psychiatric disorders) and environmental factors influence how severely their mother’s alcohol use impacts a child during pregnancy (e.g., socioeconomic status and family problems). Even low levels of alcohol consumption may negatively impact children due to exposure-related effects like growth deficits (Olsen & Corrigan, 2022). So, abstinence is still the safest option for expecting mothers.
Prenatal Tobacco Exposure
Smoking is another risky habit commonly engaged in by pregnant women. By decreasing the oxygen content of the mother’s blood and increasing carbon dioxide production, smoking reduces the amount of oxygen that can reach the developing fetus. The child’s development may be irreversibly harmed if the oxygen supply is cut off. Fetal growth, size at birth, lung capacity, heart health, and brain development are all negatively impacted by maternal smoking (Vorgias & Bernstein, 2022). A mother’s cigarette introduces thousands of toxins into her unborn child’s bloodstream, leading to these outcomes.
It has been demonstrated that a woman’s weight gain during pregnancy is directly correlated to the amount of cigarette smoke she inhales during that time. Babies born to moms who smoke weigh between 180 and 230 grams less on average than babies whose mothers did not smoke when they were born (Larson et al., 2019). Furthermore, research has demonstrated a correlation between a mother’s cigarette use and her child’s birth weight.
There was an inverse relationship between the amount of smoking a mother did and the importance of her newborn child. Babies who breathe in secondhand smoke are more likely to be underweight for their age and to have organs that are not fully developed (Daly, 2022). When infants are first brought into the world, their lungs do not always function as they should. Furthermore, there is still a possibility that the infant will acquire bronchitis or asthma in the foreseeable future. Another organ of crucial importance, the heart, is also in jeopardy.
Children exposed to substances during pregnancy, such as tobacco, may experience delays in social and emotional development and behavioral problems. The use of heroin during pregnancy has been linked to several cognitive impairments, including impaired spatial memory, impaired recall, increased impulsivity, and a lower intelligence quotient. New studies on the long-term impacts of prenatal heroin exposure have shown that infants whose lives were improved by adoption by non-addicted parents fare better than those of similarly situated youngsters who remain in impaired circumstances. This indicates that the family environment is a significantly more significant risk factor for cognitive and behavioral disorders than prenatal cigarette exposure (Cornelius & Day, 2022).
Infants born to mothers with drug addictions should be closely watched and tapered as soon as possible after birth to prevent them from experiencing the same potentially fatal withdrawal symptoms as their mothers. Both withdrawal symptoms are extreme crying, trouble sleeping or breathing, problems eating or breathing, and possibly nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Easy access to narcotics and other potentially dangerous substances in the households of addicts puts the children of addicts in a particularly precarious position. An accidental overdose of a drug is a severe health concern (Eiden et al., 2019).
Preventative measures of a more typical kind could be overlooked. Addiction in parents might make it difficult for them to detect their children’s changing physical and mental health care needs as they enter adolescence. When drugs and domestic violence go hand in hand, children are especially at risk for harm.
Congenital heart defects have been linked to prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke, which has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in offspring. Furthermore, recent studies on prenatal cigarette smoke exposure have shown lasting effects on child development. Behavioral issues and learning disabilities are just two of the long-term consequences.
Researchers have found a correlation between smoking during pregnancy and behavioral issues in offspring. Tobacco’s effects on the development and function of the brain are at the root of behavioral problems (Froggatt et al., 2020). Children with cognitive impairment are more likely to start engaging in criminal behavior and substance abuse at a young age. Children exposed to secondhand smoke during pregnancy are more likely to experiment with other substances like tobacco, cannabis, and alcohol as teenagers.
In people of average intelligence, learning disabilities are neurological conditions that impair their capacity to take in, analyze, and respond to new information. Studies have failed to identify a definitive link between prenatal cigarette smoke exposure and the development of learning disabilities (O’Connor et al., 2022). Children’s vulnerability to developing learning disabilities after exposure to tobacco smoke was found to increase dramatically.
Prenatal Drug Exposure
Often, the mental toll of drug abuse takes time to show up. Different effects occur in a developing nervous system because homeostatic regulating mechanisms are not yet calibrated to their full potential. Different studies suggest that neurological changes occur in utero because of the drug’s effect on dopamine and serotonin pathways. Nonetheless, studies on lab animals suggest that these neural pathways revert to normal by adulthood despite the persistence of behavioral issues (Ignaszewski, 2021).
The placenta is a potential drug target because drugs that cross the placenta and act on their molecular target in the fetus can alter placental secretory activity and uteroplacental blood flow, which can negatively affect fetal development (Houdé, 2019). By limiting the mother’s physiology, drugs can affect the developing fetus in many ways, including releasing stress hormones and changes in the mother’s health-related behaviors. Prenatal drug abuse has increased the risk of developing neurological disorders, including epilepsy, major depression, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease. In addition to an increased risk of heart disease in adulthood, hyperactivity disorder and low birth weight are more common in children whose mothers used narcotics during pregnancy, according to available research (Kaminen‐Ahola, 2020). Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to decreased fetal blood flow, which can lead to congenital disabilities and low birth weight.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a mother’s health during pregnancy matters for her baby’s immediate and future well-being. Many drugs are known to cross the placenta and potentially cause congenital disabilities. FAS disorder spectrum and other severe fetal effects attributable to maternal alcohol use prenatally. Alcohol exposure will continue to be an extreme public health concern and afflict future generations if successful prevention, intervention, and management strategies are not implemented. A mother’s knowledge of her alcohol usage, efforts to cut back on it, and, in the best-case scenario, complete abstinence from alcohol all play an important role before, during, and after pregnancy. Essential steps in addressing this ongoing concern include raising awareness among the public and healthcare providers, implementing effective universal preventative initiatives, and improving recommendations for detecting, preventing, and managing FASD.
The period when a woman is pregnant is unique because it motivates women to engage in healthy behaviors that could benefit their unborn child. Because prenatal alcohol exposure is the leading non-genetic cause of cognitive impairment, detecting maternal alcohol intake as early as possible is the primary focus in the fight against downstream FASD. Therefore, research studies are essential if pregnant women are to understand better the mechanism by which alcohol and tobacco affect pregnancy. It allows them to focus on developing therapeutic strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of alcohol and tobacco consumption during pregnancy and improve the outcomes for both the mother and the fetus.
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