Psychosocial resources and persistent alcohol consumption in early pregnancy — a population study of women in their first pregnancy in Sweden

Abstract

The aim of the study was to test the impact of psychosocial resources on pregnant women, regarding continued alcohol consumption. The study is based on a one-year cohort of nulliparas followed during pregnancy. From a total of 994 invited women 872 (87.7%) agreed to participate in the study. All women who reported any alcohol consumption within the twelve months prior to the administration of the questionnaire were included in this study population ( n = 692, 79.4%). 32.8% of the alcohol consumers continued to drink during pregnancy even though the alcohol intake was moderate. In spite of the official Swedish alcohol recommendation for total abstinence during pregnancy, more socially active, and more highly educated women continued drinking alcohol, with wine being the beverage of choice, maybe more as social behavior rather than to cope with stress caused by insufficient psychosocial resources. Younger women or those with fewer years of education tended to stop drinking to a higher degree, but those who continued to drink tended to drink beer or to binge.