Moderate alcohol consumption as a mediator of mother's behaviour towards her child.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of moderate drinking on mother's behaviour towards her child.


METHODS
The European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC) survey sample consisted of 3,569 Czech women, who were interviewed when their children were 18 months old. There were three areas related to mother child relationship investigated: hygiene, activities with the child, and the mother's emotional relationship with the child. Besides alcohol consumption, we also evaluated the mother's neuroticisms.


RESULTS
Our results suggest that the behaviour of moderate drinking mothers differs from the behaviour of abstaining mothers. The abstinents express more emotions for the child, they handle better the demands of maternity and pay more attention to needs for child's educative activities. Significant differences were not noticed in the frequency of physical activities with the child (cuddling, physical playing, walks).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data supports the assumption that moderate drinking of a mother is disadvantageous for the child as compared to abstinence. The abstinents display a higher level of concern about the child.
Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Family, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. tyrlik@phil.muni.cz
Mojmír
M
Tyrlík
Stepán
S
Konecný
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy; D055815:Young Adult