A comparison of smoking and drinking behaviours in pregnant women: who abstains and why.

Changes in alcohol and nicotine usage during pregnancy are reported for a sample of 112 pregnant women, 35 of whom smoked cigarettes before pregnancy and 86 of whom drank alcohol before pregnancy. Striking differences were observed among the patterns of cigarette smoking compared with those of drinking. One hundred per cent of drinkers reported a reduced intake of alcohol but only 57% of the smokers reported a decrease in cigarette smoking. Forty per cent of the smokers reported that they had "tried and failed" to cut down on their cigarette consumption yet none of the drinkers reported such a failure. A reduction in drinking during pregnancy was related directly to an antenatal emotional attachment to the fetus and related inversely to feelings of irritability towards the fetus. In the case of smoking, this relationship did not emerge, and it seemed probable that a psychological and a physiological dependence on nicotine may override the effect of an emotional attachment to the fetus. Implications for the prevention of smoking are discussed.