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Predictors of Postpartum Change in Alcohol Use in Norwegian Mothers

2015; Alcohol Research Documentation; Volume: 76; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.15288/jsad.2015.76.559

1938-4114

Sonja Mellingen, Torbjørn Torsheim, Frode Thuen,

Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes

Objective: This study examined the relationship between marital status, family size, and postpartum alcohol use from birth to 36 months postpartum, based on data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. Method: Mothers’ self-reported alcohol frequency and alcohol units per drinking occasion at 0–3 months, 4–6 months, 18 months, and 36 months postpartum were modeled using linear mixed models for repeated measures. Results: There was a strong main effect of time on alcohol use, with increases in alcohol use from childbirth to 36 months after childbirth. Adjusting for covariates, there were three-way interaction effects for Time × Family Structure × Family Size for alcohol units and alcohol frequency, indicating that a change in alcohol use varied as a function of family structure and family size. Single mothers had a lower increase in frequency of alcohol use but a steeper increase in the number of alcohol units. However, this effect was less pronounced with increasing family size. Conclusions: The patterns of findings are consistent with a differential opportunity perspective on alcohol use.