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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Quantification of Social Behavior in Adult Rats
Published on: December 14, 2014
Prenatal alcohol exposure and ability, academic achievement, and school functioning in adolescence: a longitudinal
Karen K Howell1, Mary Ellen Lynch, Kathleen A Platzman
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30306, USA. khowell@emory.edu
Background:
Prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with learning, behavioral, and academic problems even in children without the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).
Objective:
To examine the prenatal alcohol exposure and ability, academic achievement, and school functioning in adolescence.
Methods:
In a longitudinal cohort, intelligence, academic performance, and school functioning were evaluated in 265 low socioeconomic status (SES) adolescents (M age = 15.1 years), 128 prenatally exposed to alcohol, 53 controls, and 84 special education students by using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd edition (WISC-III) and the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT). School records were abstracted for grade point averages (GPA), standardized achievement test scores, conduct, attendance, and special education placement.
Results:
Alcohol-affected youth had significantly lower IQs than those in the other three groups.
Conclusion:
Although academic achievement (WIAT scores) was most impaired in the special education group who showed lower performance over all as well as in reading and spelling, alcohol-affected youth showed significant deficits on mathematics subtests. There was no increased incidence of conduct problems in school records related to alcohol exposure.
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