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Drinking While Pregnant Linked to Conduct

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 November 2007, 21:00 CST

U.S. children whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy had more conduct, attention and impulsivity problems compared to children whose mothers did not.

The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found for each additional day per week that mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy, their children had an increase in conduct problems -- even after factoring in other variables such as the mothers' drug use during pregnancy, education level or intellectual ability.

Brian M. D'Onofrio of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., and colleagues analyzed data from 4,912 mothers who enrolled in a large national survey in 1979. Each year through 1994 and then every other year through 2004, the women answered questions about their substance use during each of their pregnancies. Beginning in 1986, 8,621 of their offspring were also assessed every other year between ages 4 and 11 for behavioral problems.

These results are consistent with prenatal alcohol exposure exerting an environmentally mediated causal effect on childhood conduct problems, but the relation between prenatal alcohol exposure and attention and impulsivity problems is more likely to be caused by other factors correlated with maternal drinking during pregnancy, the researchers said in a statement.

Source: United Press International

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