A new study has suggested that negative affectivity is linked to light alcohol use and binge drinking during pregnancy, showing that 16 percent of women had light alcohol use in the first trimester and 10 percent in the second trimester.
It was found that binge drinking occurred in 12 percent of women during their first trimester and 0.5 percent in the second trimester.
Experts describe negative affectivity as the tendency to experience negative emotions such as anxiety and depression.
The population-based study, led by Dr. Kim Stene-Larsen from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, Norway, used data from 66,111 pregnant women and their partners who were part of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).
Findings indicated that with each unit increase in maternal negative affectivity, the odds for light alcohol increased in the first and second trimester, 27 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
The odds for binge drinking were much higher at 55 percent in the first trimester and 114 percent in the second trimester for each unit increase of negative affectivity in the mother.
"Our findings clearly show a link between a mother's negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety, and light alcohol use and binge drinking during pregnancy," Dr. Stene-Larsen concluded.
The study is published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.
