Moderate alcohol consumption as a mediator of mother's behaviour towards her child.

AIM The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of moderate drinking on mother's behaviour towards her child. METHOD The European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC) survey sample consisted of 3,569 Czech women, who were interviewed when their children were 18 months old. There were three areas related to mother child relationship investigated: hygiene, activities with the child, and the mother's emotional relationship with the child. Besides alcohol consumption, we also evaluated the mother's neuroticisms. RESULTS Our results suggest that the behaviour of moderate drinking mothers differs from the behaviour of abstaining mothers. The abstinents express more emotions for the child, they handle better the demands of maternity and pay more attention to needs for child's educative activities. Significant differences were not noticed in the frequency of physical activities with the child (cuddling, physical playing, walks). CONCLUSION Our data supports the assumption that moderate drinking of a mother is disadvantageous for the child as compared to abstinence. The abstinents display a higher level of concern about the child.