PRENATAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE AND ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT AT AGE 6 - A NONLINEAR FIT

This is a report on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the ac ademic achievement of children at 6 years of age, In this longitudinal study, women were interviewed at the end of each trimester of pregnan cy, at delivery, and at 8, 18, 36, and 72 months postpartum. The women were of lower socioeconomic status, high school-educated, and moderat e users of alcohol. The offspring received age-appropriate physical an d developmental assessments at each follow-up. Linear regression and n onlinear curve fitting were used to investigate the nature and shape o f the relationship between prenatal alcohol exposure and achievement. In addition, the role of child IQ in this relationship was explored. A lcohol exposure during the second trimester predicted deficits in each of the three subtests of the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised (WRA T-R): reading, spelling, and arithmetic. The relationship was partiall y reduced by the addition of IQ to the model, but prenatal alcohol exp osure still predicted significant deficits in achievement, even after controlling for IQ. Tests for the shape of the relationship demonstrat ed that the effect of prenatal exposure on the arithmetic subtest of t he WRAT-R was a linear or dose-response relationship. By contrast, the relationships between prenatal alcohol exposure and performance on th e spelling and reading subtests of the WRAT-R were better modeled as t hreshold effects. The thresholds for both were similar to 1 drink/day in the second trimester.