Prenatal alcohol exposure, childhood development and teenage drinking: a study of trans-generational effects

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Binge-drinking among teenagers in the UK is higher than in any other Western European country. The aim of this study is to identify what determines how early teenagers start consuming alcohol and how much they drink. We will look at whether alcohol was consumed by teenagers‘ mothers during pregnancy, at the family environment in which they grew up, at how much alcohol was drunk in the household and how often, and at inherited genetic factors, as possible causes of problem teenage drinking. We will try to isolate the influence of each factor from the others, and especially of alcohol consumed by mothers during pregnancy. We will further try to understand exactly how this might affect the foetus, by studying the consequences it might have on child‘s development, behaviour and school results, and by measuring whether alcohol has induced temporary or permanent changes in some genes. If drinking mothers can predispose their unborn babies to drinking more and at a younger age, this will create a spiral of problem drinking, which gets worse with every generation. Therefore, this work could open new windows of opportunity for the prevention of problem teenage drinking, for example by advising pregnant women to avoid alcohol.