Human Services News

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Despite public health campaigns, a surprising number of women continue to use substances such as tobacco, marijuana and alcohol during pregnancy and their usage rebounds to pre-pregnancy levels within two years of having a baby, according to a new University of Washington study.

Men typically are not targeted by these campaigns, and their levels of binge drinking, daily smoking and marijuana use remained fairly stable before, during and after pregnancy, the study showed.

This is important, according to the study's lead authors Jennifer Bailey and Karl Hill, because men's substance use may make it harder for women to stop using while they're pregnant and may make it more likely that mothers will resume smoking or drinking after their child is born.

"The months after childbirth are critical for intervening with mothers," said Bailey, who is a UW research scientist.

"For example, many already have done the hard work of quitting smoking and haven't smoked a cigarette in six months or more.

While overall rates of cigarette and marijuana use and binge drinking for women declined during pregnancy, those rates began rising again during the first six months following the birth of a baby.

Data for the study came from the Seattle Social Development Project which is following the development of 808 Seattle children who are now young adults.

Pregnancy seems like such a great public health opportunity to reach parents, but no one is talking to dads and this study shows that they are not changing their substance use behavior.

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