The noted writers pay special attention to the importance and role of home environment in its influencing the so-called delinquent behaviors. Unfortunately, they were unable to carry out a profound analysis of the groups between the three chosen home placements, because the number of participants in them was not equal. But at the same time, they were able to make a conclusion that the higher rates of wrong behaviors was shown through biological home, where parents were addictive to alcohol, while adoptive homes with favorable atmosphere decreased this index.
So, the conclusion was made, that the environment and home atmosphere is a very important psychological factor in causing the FAS, and it does not matter, whether the home is adoptive, because the main feature is that it must be protective, that is, kept from the alcohol use (Shonfeld & Mattson 29). Pregnancy is the period, when the emotional responses of women increase. At this time, the fantasies and dreams of an adolescent are mixed with fear, expectation, anxiety and depression. This moral and emotional state often leads to becoming alcohol addicted.
The recent time has been characterized by the heightened attention towards the problem of inborn nervous and psychic disorders under the influence of the FAS. The most essential display of this syndrome is the delay in psychic development and the syndrome of minimal brain function (or its hyper function). But the use of alcohol during pregnancy is often combined with smoking, low social and economic status, and psycho-emotional stress, about which we speak here, and which in fact plays a key role in causing FAS.
The psychological changes, through which the woman goes at the time of being pregnant, make her emotionally unstable, and alcohol becomes one of the paths, which, to her mind, will certainly leas her to the stability she seeks. Schonfeld and Mattson make a stress that social, economic and psychological background should be viewed as basic in making further FAS research. The matter of pregnancy and fetal alcohol syndrome, is mainly psychological than social or economic. It is often, that women, especially very young, don’t receive enough attention from their husbands or parents, thus looking for satisfaction and love elsewhere.
Many authors were trying to make a profound research in this area, but still much is to be done in relation to this question. There is still no answer as for the single definite strategy of giving the necessary psychological help to pregnant women. It often happens, that the husband or parents of the pregnant woman themselves need psychological help to get free of unnecessary motivations towards the future infant. Conclusion We can conclude that the psychological state of a future mother is the most important reason for drinking during pregnancy.
It is important to remember, that, as Schonfeld and Mattson put it, – ‘Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure is related to immature moral judgment and higher rates of delinquent behaviors. Moral reasoning regarding family and friends and rates of delinquency were independent of other influences’. However, it is essential to admit that the reasons for alcohol usage during pregnancy may be different but all of them at last cause the same – Fetal Alcohol Syndrome with an innocent infant. Children suffer severely from different defects that can’t be cured during all their life.
Looking for the ways to prevent future mothers from drinking it is important first of all to make them understand that FAS can be totally avoided by not using alcohol during all the pregnancy time, not matter what reasons they have for going that. References Blos, P. , 1980. ‘Modifications in the traditional psychoanalytic theory of female adolescent development. ’ Adolescent Psychiatry 8: 8-24 Chapar, George N. , 1995. ‘Psychological variables associated with teenage pregnancy’. Adolescence 30 (118): 277-283 Cobliner, W. G. , 1994. ‘Pregnancy in the single adolescent girl: The role of cognitive functions’.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence 3(1): 17-29 Jessor, R. , 2004. Adolescent development and behavioral health. A Handbook of Health Enhancement and Disease Prevention. New York: John Wiley and Son, 44-58. Schonfeld, Amy & Mattson, Sarah, 2005. ‘Moral maturity and delinquency after prenatal alcohol exposure’. Adolescence 12: 24-32 Zamula, Evelyn, 1989. ‘Drugs and pregnancy: Often the two don’t mix’. FDA Consumer 23(5): 7-11. Zuckerman, B. S. , 1997. ‘Mental health of adolescent mothers: The implications of depression and drug use’. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 8: 111-116.