Heavy Drinking During Periods of High Unemployment: 15-year Trend Study of the Role of Race/ethnicity

Objectives: This study conceptualized high unemployment rate as a stressor deriving from the social structure. It tracked American adults' heavy drinking rates 1997-2011, intending to examine (1) whether heavy drinking escalates with rising unemployment, and (2) whether racial minorities, who feel economic downturns more than the majority, engage in heavy drinking at a higher level than Whites in times of high unemployment.

Methods: Research questions were answered using data from the Combined National Health Interview Survey. The present final sample included only respondents classified as heavy drinkers: those reporting that, on days (in the preceding year) on which they had consumed alcohol, they had regularly had at least 5 drinks.

Results: The study, which considered individual-level social structural factors, overall found rising unemployment rate to be associated with high measures for heavy-drinking frequency but low measures for heavy-drinking quantity. It did not find race to moderate the unemployment-heavy-drinking relationship, although some empirical evidence has shown racial minorities to be relatively more responsive to fluctuating unemployment inherent in the economic cycle.

Conclusions: Our results in general call for further research on roles of gender and race in heavy drinking, especially where Black females are concerned. Blacks' greater heavy-drinking frequency and greater heavy-drinking quantity (versus Whites) observed in this study may shed light on persistent racial disparities in Americans' health.