Literature addressing the relationship between substance use and physical and sexual violence against women is reviewed briefly. There is substantial evidence of a relationship between men’s ...substance use and perpetration of physical violence, some evidence of a relationship between women’s substance use and experiences of sexual aggression, but weak evidence that men’s substance use contributes to sexual aggression or that women’s substance use contributes to their physical victimization. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the relationship between substance use and violence relationship will be facilitated by narrowing the scope of research questions to identify for whom there is a relationship and under what circumstances.
Some Aboriginal youth are at disproportionate risk of using substances and developing abuse and dependence disorders. However, not all Aboriginal youth misuse substances and limited research has ...examined the protective factors conferring against substance use among these youth. The present study aimed to identify protective factors related to the alcohol use trajectories from early adolescence to emerging adulthood among off-reserve Canadian Aboriginal youth. Participants (
N
= 330; 50.3% male) aged 12–23 were selected from cycles 2–7 of Statistics Canada’s NLSCY. Multilevel modeling was employed to identify protective factors for two constructs of alcohol use. Participation in weekly activities and optimism were found to be protective for both the frequency of alcohol use and heavy drinking trajectories. Attendance of religious services was also found to be protective for heavy drinking behaviors. In contrast, positive peer relationships were a risk factor for frequency of alcohol use, but not heavy drinking. The results provide preliminary evidence of important developmental factors to integrate into substance use intervention programs targeting Aboriginal youth.
Background
Racial/ethnic variations in both alcohol consumption and obesity prevalence are well established. However, previous research indicates that drinking patterns influence the relation of ...alcohol intake to body mass index (BMI), and information on racial/ethnic differences in the relation of drinking pattern to BMI is lacking.
Methods
Multi-year cross-sectional data extracted from the 1999–2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for adults ≥ 20 years (
N
= 25,816) were used. Effects of drinking patterns were analyzed using a linear dose–response model that considered the joint effects of frequency (number of days in the past year that at least one drink was consumed) and dosage (the number of drinks consumed in excess of the first drink on days when more than one drink was consumed).
Results
For all racial/ethnic groups except Mexican Americans, current drinkers had a lower mean BMI than non-drinkers. Mean BMI differences were − 0.721 kg/m
2
for non-Hispanic white (white) men and − 1.292 kg/m
2
for white women. Among drinkers, drinking frequency was negatively associated with BMI for all racial/ethnic groups; however, this effect was significantly smaller for Mexican American men and other Hispanic men than white men. Dosage was positively associated with BMI among all racial/ethnic groups except Mexican American women and other Hispanic women; this effect was significantly stronger among black women than white women.
Conclusion
Gender and racial/ethnic differences in the relation of drinking patterns to BMI should be taken into consideration when investigating factors that influence the effect of alcohol consumption on BMI.
This study examined the role of Asian ethnicity as a moderator of drinking outcomes associated with alcohol-related sexual assault (incapacitated rape). Participants were 5,467 Asian American and ...White college women. Results found the overall MANOVA for ethnicity and incapacitated rape (IR) interactions to be significant. Asian American participants with no history of IR had fewer drinking problems than White American participants with no history of IR. Asian American participants with IR histories had more drinking problems than White Americans with IR histories. Findings indicate Asian Americans who experience IR may be at increased risk for negative alcohol outcomes.
This study investigated inconsistencies in the literature regarding social anxiety and problematic drinking among college students. One hundred eighteen students (61% women) who experience anxiety in ...social or performance situations completed measures of social anxiety and a modified Timeline Followback that assessed the psychological context of drinking episodes and alcohol-related consequences. Results suggest that men who experience severe social anxiety drink less alcohol than men with lower levels of anxiety, whereas women high in social anxiety are likely to experience more alcohol-related consequences per drinking episode than women low in social anxiety, despite drinking similar amounts of alcohol. In addition, women with high social anxiety were found to experience more alcohol-related consequences than men with high social anxiety. These findings suggest that the inconsistencies noted in the literature on drinking to cope with social anxiety and alcohol-related consequences may reflect methodological differences and the failure to consider gender.
Abstract This study expanded earlier work conducted by this laboratory by examining the independent and interactive effects of avoidant coping strategies, positive and negative alcohol expectancies ...and self-efficacy, in predicting volume and frequency of alcohol consumption in a sample dependent on alcohol ( n = 296). Coping strategies were found to be salient predictors of frequency of drinking, while venting emotion interacted with negative expectancies to predict both volume and frequency of drinking. Venting emotion was also found to interact with drinking refusal self-efficacy in predicting volume of alcohol consumed. These interactions are discussed in terms of the cognitive and behavioural mechanisms thought to underlie drinking behaviour.
Abstract Cognitive models of alcohol abuse posit that the context typically associated with alcohol use, such as negative affect, implicitly activates alcohol use cognitions, which in turn leads to ...alcohol consumption. We selected 40 undergraduate women based upon their alcohol use and reported anxiety sensitivity, and proposed that drinking for the purpose of negative reinforcement would predict increased semantic priming between anxiety and alcohol concepts. A lexical decision task compared the response latencies of alcohol targets preceded by anxiety words to those same targets preceded by neutral words (anxiety–alcohol priming). Level of anxiety sensitivity did not relate to anxiety–alcohol priming, but drinking following social conflict was associated with increased anxiety–alcohol priming. This study specifically suggests that the contextual antecedents to drinking behavior relate to the organization of semantic information about alcohol, and more generally supports cognitive models of substance abuse.
Purpose We assessed the association of alcohol drinking frequency and quantity with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in a predominantly Muslim southeast European population, where heavy drinkers drink ...consistently. Methods A population-based, case-control study conducted in 2003 through 2006 in Tirana, Albania, included 465 nonfatal sequential ACS patients aged 35 to 74 years (369 men, 96 women; 88% response) and a population-based control group (450 men and 235 women aged 35–74 years; 65.5% response). A structured interview included sociodemographic, psychosocial, and behavioral characteristics. Anthropometric measurements were performed. Statistical analysis employed multivariable-adjusted logistic regression. Results Women abstained or were light drinkers. Among men, there was a protective association of ACS with both frequency of intake multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR; almost daily versus occasional drinkers), 0.3; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.2–0.5 and “moderate” drinking quantities OR (100–299 versus <10 g/wk), 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2–0.6. Heavy drinking (≥300 g/wk; ≈10% of men) was regular rather than episodic, and was associated with loss of protection. Conclusions Among the men in this transitional Mediterranean population, we found a strong protective effect associated with both moderate frequency and quantity of intake. The unique context of our study reinforces the case for causality in the relationship between moderate alcohol intake and coronary health.
Background: Data on risks and benefits associated with drinking patterns provide the scientific basis for moderate, low‐risk drinking guidelines. Illustrated are methods to investigate and adjust for ...heterogeneity in relations between three‐dimensional drinking patterns and 41 alcohol problems assessed among current regular drinkers in the 1988 National Health Interview Survey.
Methods: Three dimensions of mean drinking patterns, (i.e., usual quantities, heavy drinking rates (days of 5× drinks/drinking days x 100), and drinking frequencies) were estimated in overlapping subsets of the population reporting each of the 41 problems, and mean usual quantities and heavy drinking rates were plotted against frequencies. Respondents were categorized into drinking problem groups associated with comparable mean drinking patterns; and main and interactive effects of age and sex on drinking patterns were examined by conducting three regression analyses within each group, with quantity, frequency, and heavy drinking rates as dependent variables, respectively.
Results: Analyses revealed substantial heterogeneity in relations between drinking patterns and alcohol problems. Respondents having only minor problems drank on average two days a week, usually had 2.6 drinks, and drank heavily 12–13 days a year. Whereas, those having minor and severe problems drank an average of 3.5 days a week, usually had 4.7 drinks, and drank heavily 58 days a year. Within each problem group, usual quantity and frequency were higher among males than females, but the greatest gender differences were seen in heavy‐drinking rates. Age‐related differences in drinking patterns were striking. Usual quantity and heavy‐drinking rates associated with problems decreased with age, whereas drinking frequency increased.
Conclusions: Findings demonstrated the importance of assessing and adjusting for heterogeneity in relations between drinking patterns and alcohol problems when aggregating and interpreting such data, (e.g., when assessing alcohol dependence criteria or evaluating guidelines for moderate drinking), and illustrated new methods for doing so.
PDF
