BEH 10-11 | 26 mars 2019
Date of submission: 09.25.2018

SPOUSAL CONFLICTS, VERBAL ABUSE AND DRINKING DURING PREGNANCY AMONG WOMEN: DATA FROM THE ELFE NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE COHORT

Fabienne El-Khoury1 (fabienne.khoury@inserm.fr), Marie-Aline Charles2, Maria Melchior1

Abstract

Introduction

Intimate partner violence, including verbal abuse, may be associated with maternal alcohol use during pregnancy. We examined the association between woman’s marital status, spousal conflicts and intimate partner verbal violence, and maternal alcohol use during pregnancy using data from the ELFE study.

Methods

The analyses are based on the ELFE (Étude longitudinale française depuis l’enfance) representa- tive birth cohort implemented in France in 2011, which recruited 18,050. Marital status, spousal conflicts and intimate partner verbal violence, as well as maternal alcohol consumption (never, occasionally, and regularly) during pregnancy were reported by the mother at child’s birth. Intimate partner verbal violence was classified into 3 categories: never, presence of verbal violence, and woman not in a couple.

Using weighted data, we investigated the links between spousal conflicts and verbal violence and alcohol consumption during pregnancy using a multivariate multinomial logistic model, with a random effect at the maternity level.

Results

The majority of women (79.6%) reported no alcohol consumption during pregnancy, while 16.8% reported drinking less than one glass of alcohol per month on average, and 3.7% drank, on average, more than one glass per month.

In our multivariate logistic regression model, compared to women who did not report intimate partner verbal violence during pregnancy, women victim of this violence had higher alcohol consumption (adjusted OR=1.22 [95% CI: 1.14-1.30] for occasional alcohol consumption, and adjusted OR=1.47 [95% CI: 1.36-1.59] for regular alcohol consumption). Women not in a couple reported comparable alcohol consumption than women who did not report any intimate partner verbal violence.

Discussion

Intimate partner verbal violence should be systematically assessed during antenatal care and considered in interventions promoting healthy behaviors in the perinatal period.

http://invs.santepubliquefrance.fr/beh/2019/10-11/pdf/2019_10-11_3.pdf