Negotiating identities of ‘responsible drinking’: Exploring accounts of alcohol consumption of working mothers in their early parenting period

Abstract

Mothers’ alcohol consumption has often been portrayed as problematic: firstly, because of the effects of alcohol on the foetus, and secondly, because of the association between motherhood and morality. Refracted through the disciplinary lens of public health, mothers’ alcohol consumption has been the target of numerous messages and discourses designed to monitor and regulate women's bodies and reproductive health. This study explores how mothers negotiated this dilemmatic terrain, drawing on accounts of drinking practices of women in paid work in the early parenting period living in Northern England in 2017–2018. Almost all of the participants reported alcohol abstention during pregnancy and the postpartum period and referred to low‐risk drinking practices. A feature of their accounts was appearing knowledgeable and familiar with public health messages, with participants often deploying ‘othering’, and linguistic expressions seen in public health advice. Here, we conceptualise these as Assumed Shared Alcohol Narratives (ASANs). ASANs, we argue, allowed participants to present themselves as morally legitimate parents and drinkers, with a strong awareness of risk discourses which protected the self from potential attacks of irresponsible behaviour. As such, these narratives can be viewed as neoliberal narratives, contributing to the shaping of highly responsible and self‐regulating subjectivities.

Women's alcohol consumption in the early parenting period and influences of socio‐demographic and domestic circumstances: A scoping review and narrative synthesis

“…These results remained statistically significant after adjusting for socio-demographic variables 55.1% of mothers aged 36+), and more likely to binge drink (6.8% of 20-25 vs. 2.7% of mothers aged 36+. At 1, 3 and 5 years postpartum, the proportion of binge drinkers was higher in mothers ≥36 years (2.7%, 18.4%, 26.6%) than in those aged 26-35 (3.3%, 5.5%, 9.3%) Laborde 2012 [48] The difference in any alcohol consumption between new mothers and other women was greater amongst Hispanic women than White women (AOR 0.80, 95% CI 0.64, 1.00).…”

“…Tran 2015 [32] When compared with being married, being single (OR 1.65, p < 0.05) and being separated/divorced/widowed (OR 2.38, p < 0.001) were associated with greater odds of heavy consumption pattern Laborde 2012 [48] In models interacting between drinking frequency and new motherhood (where reference category is other women) there were no interactions (at 5% level) with regards to marital status…”

“…When compared with mothers with less than a high school degree, mothers with higher levels of education had greater odds of being in the Laborde 2012 [48] In models interacting between any drinking and new motherhood (where reference category is other women), there were negative interactions with having more than a high school education compared with having less than ninth grade or some high school (e.g., for college or post grads AOR 0.71, 95% CI 0.51, 0.97) Marital status When compared with married/cohabiting mothers, single mothers had a lower frequency of postpartum drinking but consumed more units of alcohol per drinking occasion (Cf. Figure 2)…”

“…Liu 2017 [31] When compared with mothers with a household income below the poverty line, mothers with a household income of 185% or more of the poverty line had greater odds of being in the following drinking and smoking classes: Laborde 2012 [48] In models interacting between drinking frequency and new motherhood (where reference category is other women), there were positive interactions with most higher income cohorts compared with those earning <$10,000 per year (e.g., AOR 3. During the prenatal to postnatal period, no relationship was found between education and female usual drinking quantity or frequency…”

“…Five studies analysed the differences between women who are mothers and women who are not mothers. When compared with the latter, the former were less likely to drink and to exceed the alcohol guidelines, and consumed less alcohol per occasion [41][42][43][44]48] (Table 3). For example, in an analysis of 2188 US women, Matusiewicz et al [44] observed that those who became mothers from survey wave 1 (2001-2002) to 2 (2004-2005) reported a reduction in past year drinking days (À22 vs. +7 in non-mothers), number of heavy drinking days (À15 vs. +0.7) and number of drinks per drinking occasion (À0.8 vs. À0.3).…”