Unemployment and Drinking Behaviour: some data from a general population survey of alcohol use

Abstract

SummaryThe confusion in the alcohol‐unemployment literature may be partly explained by methodological considerations. A standard instrument for measuring alcohol consumption was used in this study which reports data drawn from a general population study. Results show that unemployed males were particularly likely to binge drink and to report adverse effects from consuming alcohol. It is suggested that (a) the choice of consumption variables may influence the outcome of research in this area, and (b) unemployed men may be exposed to greater risks from drinking alcohol.

Socio‐economic status and problem alcohol use: the positive relationship between income and the DSM‐IV alcohol abuse diagnosis

“…Studies of the relationship between educational achievement and alcohol have documented that although college students drink more and are more likely to be diagnosed with alcohol abuse compared with non-college attending peers [7,51], those who graduate from college have lower life-time rates of alcohol disorders compared to those who do not [4,52,53]. Similarly, a wide literature has shown that unemployment is associated with increased rates of alcohol disorders among adults [4,49,54]. The results of this study suggest a positive association between personal income and DSM-IV alcohol abuse in the adult population that is not moderated by age category and thus is persistent throughout the lifecourse, and that this relationship is accounted for by the association with driving after or while drinking.…”

Welfare Reform and the Changing Landscape of Substance Abuse Services for Low‐Income Women

“…Studies have generally found declines in alcohol consumption as people become unemployed, presumably due to reductions in disposable income for purchasing alcohol. But studies of the long-term unemployed have often found increasing consumption and problems and that substance abuse is most associated with episodic, unsteady employment patterns (Claussen, 1999;Crawford et al, 1987;Heather et al, 1987;Kandel and Davies, 1990). These relationships become much more variable when patterns across different demographic subgroups are considered (Hammer, 1992;Crawford et al, 1987).…”

Arbeitslosigkeit, riskanter Alkoholkonsum und alkoholbezogene Verhaltensprobleme: eine Längsschnittstudie bei Metallarbeitern

“…Einige dieser Studien deuten darauf hin, dass Arbeitslosigkeit nicht oder sogar negativ mit Alkoholgebrauch assoziiert ist [12 -21]. Andererseits existiert eine Fülle von empirischen Befunden für eine positive Relation zu Trinkgewohnheiten und Konsumraten [4, 22 -27], zu Verhaltensproblemen als Folge des Alkoholkonsums [4,26,28], zu so genannten Alkoholerkrankungen [29,30] sowie zu Verhaltensstö-rungen als Folge von Alkoholkonsum [3,26,31]. In manchen Studien konnten Zusammenhänge nur für bestimmte Subgruppen aufgewiesen werden, z.…”