Objective
To examine the prevalence of self-reported alcohol use among women of childbearing age and their ability to recall information about pregnancy risk contained in warning labels on alcoholic beverage containers and warning signs posted in places where liquor is sold.
Design
A telephone survey was conducted with adults using a dual-frame procedure. Specifically, approximately one third of the total sample were contacted by randomdigit dialing, and the remainder were obtained from listed residential telephone numbers. Also, poststratification weighting was done using estimates of age, ethnic, and sex groups to approximate the 1990 adult population of Illinois.
Setting
A total of 4987 adults with known residence (excluding those without residences and/or telephones and those living in institutions or group quarters) in Illinois participated in a survey during the spring and summer of 1990.
Participants
A total of 1515 women of childbearing age (18 through 45 years old) participated in the survey. A random subsample of approximately half were asked questions regarding warning labels and signs; the other half were omitted from the investigation, which yielded the final sample of 748.
Main Outcome Measures
The two main outcome measures were self-reported alcohol use and ability to recall information about pregnancy risk contained in warning labels and signs.
Results
Pregnant women were significantly less likely than nonpregnant women to report using alcohol in the past 30 days. Approximately one fourth of all women were able to recall information about pregnancy risk contained in warning labels and signs.
Conclusions
Alcohol warning labels and signs seem to be reaching a minority of women; this was uniform across several sociodemographic subpopulations, with few exceptions.
