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Maternal alcohol consumption and socio-demographic determinants of neurocognitive function of school children in the rural Western Cape

Background. Within the South African context there is a large body of research regarding the associations between maternal gestational drinking and diagnosable child FASDs. However, there remains a paucity of local research regarding the impacts of other kinds of maternal drinking behaviours (e.g. p...

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Main Author: Viglietti, Paola
Other Authors: Dalvie, Aqiel
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Public Health and Family Medicine 2021
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access_status_str Open Access
author Viglietti, Paola
author2 Dalvie, Aqiel
author_browse Dalvie, Aqiel
Viglietti, Paola
author_facet Dalvie, Aqiel
Viglietti, Paola
author_sort Viglietti, Paola
collection Thesis
description Background. Within the South African context there is a large body of research regarding the associations between maternal gestational drinking and diagnosable child FASDs. However, there remains a paucity of local research regarding the impacts of other kinds of maternal drinking behaviours (e.g. past and present maternal drinking) and related socio-demographic factors on developmentally sensitive areas of child neurocognitive functioning, such as executive functioning (EF). Methods. This study was cross-sectional in design, utilising a gender balanced sample of N=464 children between the ages of 9.00 and 15.12 (year.months) in three rural areas within the Western Cape. Information regarding maternal drinking behaviours (before, during and after pregnancy) and related socio-demographic factors was collected via structured interviews with mothers or proxy respondents. Six subtests from the Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Battery (CANTAB), were used to assess three aspects of child EF namely: (1) processing speed, assessed by the MOT and RTI subtests, (2) attention, assessed by the MTT and RVP subtests and (3) memory, assessed by the SWM and PAL subtests. Findings. For all three maternal alcohol use behaviours examined, there was an apparent non-significant trend whereby children of mothers who reported alcohol use (before, during and after pregnancy) performed worse (on average) than children of mothers reporting non-alcohol use on the EF subtests. Several of the socio-demographic factors were found to act as significant predictors of subtest specific EF performance including child sex (RTI: B=.46, p<. 01; MTT: B=.05, p<.05), child age (RTI: B=.27, p<.05; MTT: B=.11, p<.01), home language (MOT: B=- .13, p<.05), maternal employment (MTT: B=-.04, p<.05) and household size (SWM: B=-1.29, p<.05). Conclusions. These study findings provide initial insights into the impacts of different types of maternal drinking behaviours and related socio-demographic factors on child EF outcomes within the context of an LMIC, South Africa.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:46:51.004Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33095 Maternal alcohol consumption and socio-demographic determinants of neurocognitive function of school children in the rural Western Cape Viglietti, Paola Dalvie, Aqiel Chetty-Mhlanga, Shala maternal alcohol consumption behaviours maternal drinking behaviours maternal alcohol use socio-demographic factors child neurocognitive functioning child executive functioning (EF) Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Battery (CANTAB) lower-middle income countries (LMICs) developing countries Background. Within the South African context there is a large body of research regarding the associations between maternal gestational drinking and diagnosable child FASDs. However, there remains a paucity of local research regarding the impacts of other kinds of maternal drinking behaviours (e.g. past and present maternal drinking) and related socio-demographic factors on developmentally sensitive areas of child neurocognitive functioning, such as executive functioning (EF). Methods. This study was cross-sectional in design, utilising a gender balanced sample of N=464 children between the ages of 9.00 and 15.12 (year.months) in three rural areas within the Western Cape. Information regarding maternal drinking behaviours (before, during and after pregnancy) and related socio-demographic factors was collected via structured interviews with mothers or proxy respondents. Six subtests from the Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Battery (CANTAB), were used to assess three aspects of child EF namely: (1) processing speed, assessed by the MOT and RTI subtests, (2) attention, assessed by the MTT and RVP subtests and (3) memory, assessed by the SWM and PAL subtests. Findings. For all three maternal alcohol use behaviours examined, there was an apparent non-significant trend whereby children of mothers who reported alcohol use (before, during and after pregnancy) performed worse (on average) than children of mothers reporting non-alcohol use on the EF subtests. Several of the socio-demographic factors were found to act as significant predictors of subtest specific EF performance including child sex (RTI: B=.46, p<. 01; MTT: B=.05, p<.05), child age (RTI: B=.27, p<.05; MTT: B=.11, p<.01), home language (MOT: B=- .13, p<.05), maternal employment (MTT: B=-.04, p<.05) and household size (SWM: B=-1.29, p<.05). Conclusions. These study findings provide initial insights into the impacts of different types of maternal drinking behaviours and related socio-demographic factors on child EF outcomes within the context of an LMIC, South Africa. 2021-03-03T07:02:33Z 2021-03-03T07:02:33Z 2020 2021-03-02T16:43:31Z Master Thesis Masters MPH http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33095 eng application/pdf Department of Public Health and Family Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle maternal alcohol consumption behaviours
maternal drinking behaviours
maternal alcohol use
socio-demographic factors
child neurocognitive functioning
child executive functioning (EF)
Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Battery (CANTAB)
lower-middle income countries (LMICs)
developing countries
Viglietti, Paola
Maternal alcohol consumption and socio-demographic determinants of neurocognitive function of school children in the rural Western Cape
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Maternal alcohol consumption and socio-demographic determinants of neurocognitive function of school children in the rural Western Cape
title_full Maternal alcohol consumption and socio-demographic determinants of neurocognitive function of school children in the rural Western Cape
title_fullStr Maternal alcohol consumption and socio-demographic determinants of neurocognitive function of school children in the rural Western Cape
title_full_unstemmed Maternal alcohol consumption and socio-demographic determinants of neurocognitive function of school children in the rural Western Cape
title_short Maternal alcohol consumption and socio-demographic determinants of neurocognitive function of school children in the rural Western Cape
title_sort maternal alcohol consumption and socio demographic determinants of neurocognitive function of school children in the rural western cape
topic maternal alcohol consumption behaviours
maternal drinking behaviours
maternal alcohol use
socio-demographic factors
child neurocognitive functioning
child executive functioning (EF)
Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Battery (CANTAB)
lower-middle income countries (LMICs)
developing countries
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33095
work_keys_str_mv AT vigliettipaola maternalalcoholconsumptionandsociodemographicdeterminantsofneurocognitivefunctionofschoolchildrenintheruralwesterncape