OF PARENTAL ALCOHOL USE AND ABUSE ON NEONATES AND CHILDREN, AND THE SUBSEQUENT COSTS TO SOCIETY
In contemporary American society, the "use of certain substances to modify mood or behavior under certain circumstances is generally regarded as normal and appropriate. Such use includes recreational drinking of alcohol, in which a majority of adult Americans participate . . ." (American Psychiatric Association, 1994, p. 165). Problems for most people develop when "maladaptive behavioral changes associated with the more or less regular use of psychoactive substances that affect the central nervous system" appear (p. 165). For the progeny of pregnant women, however, problems begin with gestational exposure to alcohol, regardless of the fact that the mother may not be abusing the substance (Coles, 1993, pp. 255-266). Heavy use of alcohol by a pregnant woman, however, exacerbates the problem for the child once born. Alcohol abuse by adults in households with children also affects adversely the lives of those children. The prevalence of drinking is highest for both females and in the 21-34 age range, which is the prime child-bearing age range and a major segment of the major child-rearing range (American Psychiatric Association, 1994, p. 173). Heavy social and economic costs to society ensue both from the consumption of alcohol by women during pregnancy and the abuse of alcohol by adults in households with children.
Patterns of alcohol consumption and the character of addictive behavior are discussed in the two sections immediately following this introduction. The effects on neonates of alcohol consumption by mothers during pregnancy then are addressed in a discussion of the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The discussion of the fetal alcohol syndrome is followed by a review of the effects on children of the abuse of alcohol by adults in the household. Lastly, a nursing response to these issues is proposed.
Most "adults in the Uni...