Alcohol exposure In utero and child academic achievement

Sarah Lewis
George Wehby
Luisa Zuccolo
Stephanie von Hinke

Published on 23 May 2014

The first scientific study that examined the effects of excessive alcohol intake during pregnancy was published by a Liverpool prison physician in 1899 (Sullivan, 1899). He argued that alcohol consumption caused the higher rates of stillbirth observed among female alcoholic prisoners compared to their sober counterparts. The detrimental effects of excessive drinking during pregnancy are currently well known. The effects of low‐to‐moderate drinking, however, are less conclusive. Indeed, there are conflicting recommendations regarding the ‘threshold’ for maternal prenatal alcohol consumption, ranging from total abstinence in most countries including the US to restricted consumption in the UK.

We examine the effect of prenatal alcohol exposure on child academic achievement. We use a genetic variant in the maternal alcohol‐metabolism gene ADH1B to instrument for alcohol exposure, whilst controlling for the child's genotype on the same variant. We show that the instrument is unrelated to an extensive range of parental characteristics and behaviour. OLS regressions suggest an ambiguous association between alcohol exposure and attainment but there is a strong social gradient in drinking, with mothers in higher socio‐economic groups more likely to drink. In contrast to the OLS, the IV estimates show clear negative effects of prenatal alcohol exposure.