Estimates of prenatal abstinence from alcohol: A matter of perspective

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.11.022 Byline: Grace Chang (a)(b), Tay K. McNamara (a), Louise Wilkins-Haug (a)(c), E. John Orav (a)(d) Keywords: Prenatal alcohol use; Collateral report Abstract: Abstinence from alcohol has been recommended for both pregnant and pre-conceptional women. The purpose of this study is to compare self and partner reports of abstinence from alcohol in a sample of 253 pregnant women who were T-ACE (Tolerance, Annoy, Cut-down, Eye-opener) alcohol screen positive. Dyads' reports of the women's abstinence from alcohol before, during, and after pregnancy were compared. Based on their own self-report, less than 20% of the pregnant women were abstinent in their first trimester and about half were abstinent for the rest of their pregnancy. Partners significantly over-estimated the women's abstinence from alcohol at all points except in the post-partum period when the dyad had the highest rate of agreement (85.4%). Reasons for the discrepancies in the self and partner reports of prenatal abstinence, and how partners might influence such behavior remain speculative, but identify areas for future research and prevention. Author Affiliation: (a) Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, United States (b) Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States (c) Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States (d) Department of Medicine (Biostatistics), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States