Among the numerous consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is an increase in anxiety-like behavior that can prove debilitating to daily functioning. A significant body of literature has linked gestational day 12 (G12) heavy ethanol exposure with social anxiety, evident in adolescent males and females. However, the association between non-social anxiety-like behavior and moderate alcohol exposure, a more common pattern of drinking in pregnant women, is yet unidentified. To model moderate PAE (mPAE), we exposed pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats to either room air or vaporized ethanol for 6 h on G12. Adolescent offspring were then tested on postnatal days (P) 41-47 in one of the following four anxiety assays: novelty-induced hypophagia (NIH), elevated plus maze (EPM), light-dark box (LDB) and open-field (OF). Our findings revealed significant increases in measures of anxiety-like behavior in male PAE offspring in the NIH, LDB and OF, with no differences observed in females on any test. Additionally, male offspring who demonstrated heightened anxiety-like behavior as adolescents demonstrated decreased anxiety-like behavior in adulthood, as measured by a marble-burying test (MBT), while females continued to be unaffected in adulthood. These results suggest that mPAE leads to dynamic changes in anxiety-like behavior exclusively in male offspring.

Moderate Maternal Alcohol Exposure on Gestational Day 12 Impacts Anxiety-Like Behavior in Offspring.

In this issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, three additional papers examining the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) (May et al., 2020; May et al., 2020; May et al., 2020) follow the earlier paper by Chambers et al. (2019). These studies present state-of-the-art Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) active case ascertainment of prevalence among school-age children conducted in the United States and demonstrate the importance of the behind-the-scenes intensive fieldwork necessary to complete studies of this size in community settings.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/acer.14317

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Can We Change the Future?

Background:Foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are one of the most common preventable forms of developmental disability and congenital abnormalities globally, particularly in countries where ...

/pdf/a-survey-of-health-care-professionals-knowledge-and-qls6qzck8s.pdf

A Survey of Health Care Professionals’ Knowledge and Experience of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Alcohol Use in Pregnancy:

This review examines the impact of stigma on pregnant people who use substances. Stigma towards people who use drugs is pervasive and negatively impacts the care of substance-using people by characterizing addiction as a weakness and fostering beliefs that undermine the personal resources needed to access treatment and recover from addiction, including self-efficacy, help seeking and belief that they deserve care. Stigma acts on multiple levels by blaming people for having a problem and then making it difficult for them to get help, but in spite of this, most pregnant people who use substances reduce or stop using when they learn they are pregnant. Language, beliefs about gender roles, and attitudes regarding fitness for parenting are social factors that can express and perpetuate stigma while facilitating punitive rather than therapeutic approaches. Because of stigmatizing attitudes that a person who uses substances is unfit to parent, pregnant people who use substances are at heightened risk of being screened for substance use, referred to child welfare services, and having their parental rights taken away; these outcomes are even more likely for people of color. Various treatment options can successfully support recovery in substance-using pregnant populations, but treatment is underutilized in all populations including pregnant people, and more knowledge is needed on how to sustain engagement in treatment and recovery activities. To combat stigma when working with substance-using pregnant people throughout the peripartum period, caregivers should utilize a trauma-informed approach that incorporates harm reduction and motivational interviewing with a focus on building trust, enhancing self-efficacy, and strengthening the personal skills and resources needed to optimize health of the parent-baby dyad.

/pdf/substance-use-in-pregnancy-identifying-stigma-and-improving-nwcp2ayh5p.pdf

Substance Use in Pregnancy: Identifying Stigma and Improving Care

Addressing the public health concerns of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Impact of stigma and health literacy

Background
Stigma affects not only the person with a stigmatizing condition such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), but also their family members. This study examined whether there are stigmatizing attitudes about biological mothers of children with FASD in a crowdsourced sample.

Methods
Three hundred and eighty-nine participants were asked to rate levels of difference, disdain, and responsibility on 4 conditions: serious mental illness (MI), substance use disorder (SUD), jail experience, and FASD. A budget allocation task was administered as a proxy of discrimination. Prior experience with each of the 4 conditions was noted to assess familiarity.

Results
Research participants viewed mothers of children with FASD as more different, disdained, and responsible than women with serious MI, SUD, and jail experience. Budget allocation toward FASD service programs was significantly lower than that toward all other human service programs. Familiarity with the 3 comparison conditions moderated most of the stigma ratings, but this effect was not seen in the FASD condition.

Conclusions
Results supported the notion that mothers of children with FASD are highly stigmatized for their past behavior. The data also suggested that the public might discriminate against this population. Stigma reduction interventions should focus on contact-based strategies, rather than education-based strategies.

The Public Stigma of Birth Mothers of Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Background: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a condition afflicting children born to women who consumed alcohol during pregnancy that can lead to secondary disabilities including cognitive...

Kathleen T. Mitchell

Papers

The Public Stigma of Birth Mothers of Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Addressing the public health concerns of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Impact of stigma and health literacy

Stakeholder perspectives on the stigma of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder