Methamphetamine Use During Pregnancy May Affect a Childs Stress-Response System Testing It Up

The researchers studied 2-year-old children and identified more than 120 toddlers exposed to methamphetamine in the womb. In assessing the childrens reactions when briefly separated from their mothers, the researchers found that normal increases in cortisol the stress hormone did not occur in children who currently had strife in their lives, such as a heavy-drinking mother or one with depression or other mental health problems,