Substance-using mothers: Bias in culture and research

Compared to extensive attention to mothers' use of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy, research on reproductive problems from human fathers' substance use has been minimal. Animal research shows that paternal use presents risk for offspring development. However, for humans the primary focus has been on investigating (and blaming) mothers for drug and alcohol related birth disorders. The lack of exploring the role of both parents is part of our hostile cultural bias toward substance-using mothers. This paper presents a literature review about research and attitudes concerning substance-using mothers and birth defects, developed with Omnimedicalsearch.com (using the Medpro option). Teratogen (an agent causing malformation of embryo or fetus) was the most productive term to use with the term paternal, and with names of various drugs (including alcohol), to locate literature for this paper.