Alcohol Consumption and Awareness of Associated Neuro- Psychological Implications in Foetal and Early Childhood Development

Abstract

This paper investigated alcohol consumption and awareness of associated neuropsychological implications in foetal and early childhood development in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. The design was descriptive survey and the sample was 300 expectant women who were drawn through accidental sampling technique from 6 hospitals in the area of study. Three research questions were posed and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Relevant data for analysis were collected through the indirect administration of copies of a researchers developed questionnaire called “Alcohol Consumption Implications Questionnaire on
the respondents. The reliability co-efficient of three sections of the instrument were 0.79, 0.83 and 0.75. The research questions were answered with mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested with t-test of independent means. The results among other things show that while the alcohol consumption level of expectant women is high, they have very faint awareness about the effects of their alcohol consumption on the neuro-psychological development of their foetus and children. The results equally show that marital status and level of education do not significantly influence the awareness of expectant women regarding the effects of alcohol consumption on the neuro-psychological development of foetus and children. These results were discussed, conclusions drawn, and some recommendations were also made.

Key words: Alcohol consumption, neuro-psychological; development.