The effect of prenatal exposure to methamphetamine on children's executive functioning at age 4 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorThompson, Justine
dc.date.accessioned2012-04-04T03:30:17Z
dc.date.available2012-04-04T03:30:17Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractThe use of methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant drug, during pregnancy is an increasing problem in New Zealand. However, at present, little is known about the effect of methamphetamine in utero on child development. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of prenatal methamphetamine exposure on preschool measures of executive function among 4-year-olds. To address this aim, 25 children who had been prenatally exposed to methamphetamine, and 25 control children who were matched for all other environmental and drug exposure-related variables, were assessed on three performance tests of executive function; the Day/Night task, the Bear/Dragon task and the Gift Delay (wrap) task. In addition, mothers or caregivers of these children completed the BRIEF-P measure of child executive functioning. Children who were exposed to methamphetamine in utero were rated as exhibiting significantly more executive functioning difficulties on the BRIEF-P scale than controls and also demonstrated a trend towards poorer performance on the Day/Night task. However, the methamphetamine-exposed children performed better than controls on the Gift Delay (wrap) task and no differences were found for the Bear/Dragon task with performance close to ceiling for both groups. The results of the study indicate that prenatal exposure to methamphetamine in the context of a range of environmental risk factors may influence certain aspects of executive function development in preschool-aged children and suggest that additional studies with larger sample sizes are warranted.en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10179/3187
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherMassey Universityen_US
dc.rightsThe Authoren_US
dc.subjectDrug abuse in pregnancyen
dc.subjectPrenatal exposureen
dc.subjectChild developmenten
dc.subjectMethamphetamine effectsen
dc.subjectPerformance testsen
dc.titleThe effect of prenatal exposure to methamphetamine on children's executive functioning at age 4 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, Auckland, New Zealanden
dc.typeThesisen
massey.contributor.authorThompson, Justineen
thesis.degree.grantorPsychologyen
thesis.degree.levelMastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Educational Psychology (M.Ed.Psych.)en
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Thumbnail Image
Name:
02_whole.pdf
Size:
2.76 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Thumbnail Image
Name:
01_front.pdf
Size:
269.64 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
804 B
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Theses and Dissertations