Pregnant women's alcohol consumption: The predictive utility of intention to drink and prepregnancy drinking behavior

Abstract

Objective: This study had two aims: (1) to examine pregnant women's alcohol consumption across time from prepregnancy until childbirth and (2) to explore whether prepregnancy drinking and intention to drink predict prenatal alcohol consumption while controlling for relevant demographic variables. Methods: At 17-21 weeks, 248 pregnant women completed questions about demographics, intention to drink alcohol during the subsequent pregnancy, and retrospective measures of prepregnancy and early pregnancy consumption. After this time, calendars were sent fortnightly assessing daily alcohol consumption until birth. Results: For women who drank both prepregnancy and postpregnancy confirmation, avera..