Adaptive Functioning, Social Skills, Mental Health, and Personal Strengths among Adolescents with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (PAE)

Abstract

Three key areas of dysfunction reported as having a significant impact on how adolescents with Prenatal AlcoholExposure (PAE) navigate their teen years and work towards independence are: mental health, social skills, andadaptive functioning. However, little is known about how adolescents with PAE perceive their own functioningrelative to others, and what they and others see as potential strengths on which they may build. Participantsincluded 32 adolescents (17 male, 15 female); 31% had confirmed prenatal exposure to alcohol (PAE) and theremaining 69% had a diagnosis of a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Adolescents and their caregiverscompleted the following measures: ABAS-2 (adaptive skills), SSIS (social skills), BASC-2 (mental healthfunctioning), and BERS-2 (personal strengths). Overall, caregivers rated adolescents as having significantlymore difficulties across all measures assessed when compared to the adolescents. The only area of agreementbetween caregiver and adolescents prenatally exposed to alcohol was on career strength. The knowledge gainedfrom the results of this exploratory study can help adolescents with PAE better understand themselves and helpresearchers to better characterize this population.