"Culture of Drinking" and Individual Problems with Alcohol Use

Abstract

Binge drinking is a substantial and growing health problem. Community norms about drinking and drunkenness may influence individual drinking problems. Using data from the New York Social Environment Study (n = 4,000) conducted in 2005, the authors examined the relation between aspects of the neighborhood drinking culture and individual alcohol use. They applied methods to address social stratification and social selection, both of which are challenges to interpreting neighborhood research. In adjusted models, permissive neighborhood drinking norms were associated with moderate drinking (odds ratio (OR) = 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05, 1.55) but not binge drinking; however, social network and individual drinking norms accounted for this association. By contrast, permissive neighborhood drunkenness norms were associated with more moderate drinking (OR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.39) and binge drinking (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.44, 2.56); the binge drinking association remained after adjustment for social network and individual drunkenness norms (OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.20, 2.08). Drunkenness norms were more strongly associated with binge drinking for women than for men (p(interaction) = 0.006). Propensity distributions and adjustment for drinking history suggested that social stratification and social selection, respectively, were not plausible explanations for the observed results. Analyses that consider social and structural factors that shape harmful drinking may inform efforts targeting the problematic aspects of alcohol consumption.

Lay understanding of the causes of binge drinking in the United Kingdom and Australia: a network diagram approach

“…Perhaps consistent persuasive public health messages coupled with changes in legislation may be effective in changing social norms and cultural expectations surrounding excessive alcohol consumption, analogous to how drink-driving campaigns have transformed attitudes and behaviour toward driving while intoxicated in the past 20 years. The current findings support previous research demonstrating the effect of culture on binge drinking habits [30,31], and might provide an important means to intervene.…”

Associations of occupational attributes and excessive drinking

“…For example, in the effortreward imbalance model, high effort, low reward jobs are considered stressful and an imbalance between workers' perceived effort and reward has been found to be positively associated with excessive drinking (Head, Stansfeld, & Siegrist, 2004). Also, work-related social networks and drinking culture, including permissive alcohol use at companysponsored events, drinking among colleagues, and drinking when workers are entertaining customers, are also believed to play a role in individuals' excessive drinking behaviors (Ahern et al, 2008;Bacharach, Bamberger, & Sonnenstuhl, 2002;Frone and Brown, 2010;Martin et al, 1996;Yang et al, 2001;). Future studies are needed to investigate the interplay among the job strain, job alienation, social network, and drinking culture theories and workrelated alcohol misuse.…”

Consumo de bebidas alcoólicas na população adulta Brasileira: características sociodemográficas e tendência

“…However, the limit dose for harmful consumption is not clear, especially among the young population. Also, the acceptance of excessive consumption is associated with the characteristics of the communities where the individual is inserted 29 , which reinforces the need for directed actions, besides the direct involvement of professionals and managers of primary attention to health 30 and public policies 31 .…”