Reach and Effects of Health Messages on Drinking during Pregnancy

Because of the threat of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, pregnant women have been a primary target for interventions that provide information about the risk associated with drinking during pregnancy. In a general population sample of pregnant women, the relationships between alcohol consumption in pregnant women and exposure to four sources of health messages are investigated. Sources included alcohol beverage container labels, point of sale signs, advertisements, and personal conversations. Results from a five year cross-sectional U.S. national survey and a two year longitudinal study of women of childbearing age (18–40 yrs) indicate that the vast majority of the drinking women (80 percent) decrease their alcohol consumption during pregnancy, with 61 percent of the drinkers abstaining completely. Pregnant women who do drink reported consuming relatively low quantities of alcohol, with only four percent consuming more than three drinks in a single day. Unlike previous research, no differences were found by ethnicity. Message exposure varied greatly by source, ranging from 84 percent reporting conversations about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy to 17 percent who had seen a point-of-sale poster. While there has been an increase in the proportion of pregnant women exposed to the container warning message about drinking during pregnancy, there has been a significant decline in the proportion exposed to advertisements and to conversations about the risk. Unlike prior analyses of the general population which found that warning label exposure is associated with heavy drinking, no relationship was found between label exposure and consumption among the sample of pregnant women; nor were changes in drinking during pregnancy found to be associated with exposure to any of the assessed messages (labels, posters, advertisements, and conversations).