A Comparison of Excessive Drinking, Binge Drinking and Alcohol Dependence in Ethnic Minority Groups in the Netherlands: The HELIUS Study

Overview

Journal Eur Addict Res

Publisher Karger

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2019 Dec 9

PMID 31812961

Citations 4

Authors

Jan G C van Amsterdam

Annemieke Benschop

Simone van Binnendijk

Marieke B Snijder

Anja Lok

Aart H Schene

Eske M Derks

Wim van den Brink

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The Dutch multi-ethnic Healthy Life in an Urban Setting study recently showed that alcohol consumption was lower in ethnic minority groups than those of Dutch origin, but that binge drinking in drinkers of Turkish and Moroccan origin was relatively high. The aim of the current study is to examine factors that may contribute to the differences in drinking patterns and how they relate to the relationship between drinking patterns and alcohol dependence (AD) across ethnic groups.

Methods: The rate of last year alcohol use, alcohol use patterns and AD was assessed in 4,635 Dutch, 4,317 Moroccan, 4,036 Turkish, 2,459 Ghanaian, 4,426 African Surinamese and 3,357 South-Asian Surinamese participants (both men and women) born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Results: Compared to the Dutch, the prevalence of (regular) drinking is substantially lower in all ethnic minority groups and regular drinkers among most ethnic minority groups have a lower adjusted risk to develop binge drinking and AD than the Dutch. For the prevalence of regular drinking, the ethnic differences are bigger than for the prevalence of current drinking. However, regular drinkers of Moroccan origin have a risk similar to the Dutch to develop binge drinking and AD; a finding that could not be explained by group differences in age, sex, religiosity, perceived discrimination, depression or guilt feelings about drinking.

Discussion: The prevalence data show that current drinking is lower and that regular drinking is much lower in ethnic minorities and - with the exception of those of Moroccan origin - ethnic minority regular drinkers also have a significant lower risk to develop binge drinking or AD than regular drinkers of Dutch origin. This implies that the magnitude of problematic alcohol use is substantially smaller in ethnic minorities than in the ethnic Dutch population of Amsterdam. Unfortunately, no explanation was found for the special risk situation of regular drinkers of Moroccan origin.

Citing Articles

The Association between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Problematic Alcohol and Cannabis Use in a Multi-Ethnic Cohort in The Netherlands: The HELIUS Study.

Kuhner C, Will J, Lortye S, Galenkamp H, Lok A, van Zuiden M Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024; 21(10).

PMID: 39457318 PMC: 11507207. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph21101345.

The association between current smoking and binge drinking among adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies.

Molaeipour L, Ghalandari M, Nazari Kangavari H, Alizadeh Z, Jafari E, Gholami F Front Psychiatry. 2023; 13:1084762.

PMID: 36741566 PMC: 9889925. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1084762.

The association between child maltreatment and problematic alcohol use in adulthood in a large multi-ethnic cohort: the HELIUS study.

de Waal M, Lok A, van Zuiden M, Galenkamp H, Goudriaan A Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2022; 31:e87.

PMID: 36484150 PMC: 9762143. DOI: 10.1017/S2045796022000695.

Problematic Use of Nitrous Oxide by Young Moroccan-Dutch Adults.

Nabben T, Weijs J, van Amsterdam J Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021; 18(11).

PMID: 34071087 PMC: 8197142. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18115574.

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