Underlying psychological issues may be the key to the debate about whether pregnant women should be allowed to touch any alcohol, according to a Danish researcher.
Women who drank small quantities of alcohol during pregnancy had children who demonstrated significantly better emotional and behavioural outcomes compared to children of mothers who did not drink at all in studies conducted by Janni Niclasen, of the University of Copenhagen.
Niclasen said while the conclusion of her study seemed to contradict expert advice on drinking alcohol during pregnancy, her findings offered an explanation.
The failure to include psychologically, socio-demographic and lifestyle factors made her question the findings of the large statistical studies about pregnancy and alcohol.
“The children of mothers who drank small quantities of alcohol – 90 units or more – during their pregnancies show significantly better emotional and behavioural outcomes at age seven compared to children of mothers who did not drink at all,” she explained.
“At first sight this makes no sense, since alcohol during pregnancy is not seen as beneficial to child behaviour. But when you look at the lifestyle of the mothers, you find an explanation. Mothers who drank 90 units or more of alcohol turn out to be the most well educated and healthiest lifestyle over all.”
She examined the results of a large population study conducted between 1996 and 2002, in which more than 100,000 pregnant Danish women were interviewed about their consumption of alcohol: twice during pregnancy and when their child was 6 months of age. They were also asked about their educational background and lifestyle.
When the children were aged seven, 37,000 women who had answered all three rounds of questions were contacted again so that the children could be measured on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which screens behaviour, emotions and peer relationships of children and adolescents.
Although Niclasen used these responses to reach her conclusions about drinking alcohol in pregnancy, she warned that “it is important to emphasise that this is not an invitation to pregnant women to drink alcohol”.
The psychologist said it was important that childhood-related psychological factors, such as attachment between mother and child, are taken into consideration because attachment is a very significant predictor for child cognitive and mental health.
“Therefore it should be taken into account in our statistical analysis,” she said. “It is already difficult to control for all the lifestyle factors as it is, and when, on top of that, information is lacking about psychological variables like for instance attachment and intelligence, you need to be careful when interpreting the results.”
Niclasen, J, Teasdale, T et al. Is Alcohol Binge Drinking in Early and Late Pregnancy associated with Behavioural and Emotional Development at Age Seven? European Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry December 2013.
Leave a Reply