Behavioral and psychosocial profiles of alcohol-exposed children

Background: It is widely known that prenatal alcohol exposure is related to cognitive and behavioral deficits throughout childhood and adolescence. Mu ch research has focused on understanding and quantifying the cognitive prof ile of children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) with relatively less empi rical research on behavioral or psychosocial adjustment. The primary purpos e of this study was to examine the behavioral and psychosocial profile of c hildren exposed to heavy amounts of alcohol prenatally. Method: Two groups of subjects were evaluated: an alcohol-exposed group (AL C) and a nonexposed control group (NC) each made up of 32 subjects matched for age, gender, End ethnicity. The alcohol-exposed group consisted of chil dren heavily exposed to alcohol in utero, including 19 children diagnosed w ith FAS. The Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) was completed by the caretaker of each child. Four validity/screening scales and 12 clinical sca les were scored for all subjects. Results: Analyses revealed significant group differences on four validity/s creening scales and 12 substantive scales. Within the ALC group, the profil e of children without FAS was similar to that of children with FAS, with th e exception that their profiles were consistent with less cognitive impairm ent. Conclusions: These findings indicate that in addition to previously reporte d cognitive impairments, heavy prenatal alcohol exposure is related to sign ificant impairments in psychosocial functioning. Even children without alco hol-related physical anomalies suffer from impaired psychosocial functionin g. Because impairments of this nature can interfere with functioning across multiple domains, effective early intervention programs should be consider ed for families of alcohol-exposed children. Furthermore, given the similar ities of alcohol-exposed children with and without FAS, it is imperative to obtain prenatal alcohol exposure histories on all children experiencing co gnitive or psychosocial deficits.