Perception of pregnancy and social support as predictors of alcohol consumption during pregnancy

Although an association between alcohol consumption during pregnancy and adverse fetal outcomes has been well documented, variables related to alcohol consumption during pregnancy have remained neglected. Since pregnancy has been considered a time of crisis and stress for pregnant women, this study sought to determine the association of perceptions of pregnancy and social support to alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The 311 Southern metropolitan prenatal patients sampled were interviewed twice during pregnancy. Perception of pregnancy was not found to be correlated with either social support or alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Social support was significantly associated with decreased alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Using standard multiple regressions, two components of social support, general support and pregnancy support, were found to be working in opposite directions prior to pregnancy, with general support showing a positive association with alcohol consumption. Only pregnancy support continued to account for a significant amount of the variance in alcohol consumption during the first 4 months of pregnancy. Pregnancy support, additionally, showed a significant negative association with high maximum drinking (consuming five or more drinks on occasion) prior to pregnancy. These findings suggest that social support may be an important predictor of alcohol consumption both prior to and during pregnancy and merits further investigation.