Public assumptions that drinking any alcohol during pregnancy is harmful for the child are the result of distorted communication of risk, rather than actual research, according to a University psychologist.
New research from Professor Robbie Sutton, of the School of Psychology, highlights what he describes as the ‘confirmation bias’ that influences the way scientists present findings on the effects of low to moderate drinking on child development.
Professor Sutton will tell a London conference, entitled Policing Pregnancy: a one-day conference on maternal autonomy, risk and responsibility, that the assumption that any drinking is harmful dominates perceptions, even where this is not indicated by evidence.
Professor Sutton and his team will further suggest that current dominant ways of thinking about – and communicating – risk may in fact reduce the possibilities for innovative research, close down questioning and limit the ability for scientific inquiry to test and challenge preconceptions.
The conference, which takes place on 13 April at the Royal College of Physicians, is organised by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), Birthrights and the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies (CPCS) at the University of Kent.
Dr Ellie Lee, Director of CPCS, said much of the work of the Centre was concerned with how risk consciousness impacts on parents’ identity and shapes their experience.
She said: ‘Advising parents, and especially mothers, that it is always better to be safe than sorry and that even hypothetical risks should be avoided is not benign. It contributes to a situation where bearing and raising children becomes an anxiety ridden ordeal and where parents are required to put normal life on hold in the interests of child safety.’