Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 1/2015

01-01-2015 | Original Paper

Education, income and alcohol misuse: a stress process model

Authors: Marta Elliott, Jennifer Lowman

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 1/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Purpose

This study applies stress process theory to study and explain the negative association between socioeconomic status (SES) and alcohol misuse. SES is theorized to reduce alcohol misuse by reducing exposure to stressors and increasing access to resources.

Methods

The National Co-Morbidity panel sample (N = 4,979) interviewed in 1990–1992 and 2000–2002 are analyzed to estimate direct and indirect pathways between SES and alcohol misuse over time via stressors and resources.

Results

Higher education and income predict decreased alcohol misuse via internal and external locus of control. External locus of control is associated with increased alcohol intake over time, whereas internal locus of control is associated with a lower likelihood of developing future alcohol-related disorders. Income is also associated with increased alcohol misuse via religiosity, which is more common among people of low income, and protects against alcohol misuse.

Conclusions

SES is negatively associated with alcohol misuse because low SES increases people’s perceptions that their lives are determined by luck, and reduces their sense of personal control. However, low income has a countervailing negative influence on alcohol misuse via its association with religiosity.
Literature
1.
Grant BF, Dawson DA, Stinson FS, Chou SP, Dufour MC, Pickering RP (2004) The 12-month prevalence and trends in DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence: United States, 1991–1992 and 2001–2002. Drug Alcohol Depend 74:223–234PubMedCrossRef
2.
US Department of Health and Human Services (2000) Economic costs of alcohol abuse in the United States. NIH, NIAAA, Washington, pp 1117–1128
3.
SAMSHA (2007) Results from the 2006 national survey on drug use and health: national findings (Series H-32, DHHS Publication No.SMA 07-4293), Office of Applied Studies, Rockville
4.
Anthony JC, Warner LA, Kessler RC (1994) Comparative epidemiology of dependence on tobacco, alcohol, controlled substances, and inhalants: basic findings from the national co-morbidity survey. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 2(3):244–268CrossRef
5.
Pearlin LI, Lieberman MA, Menaghan E, Mullan JT (1981) The stress process. J Health Soc Behav 22:337–356PubMedCrossRef
6.
Lantz PM, House JS, Mero RP, Williams DR (2005) Stress, life events, and socioeconomic disparities in health: results from the Americans’ changing lives study. J Health Soc Behav 46(3):274–288PubMedCrossRef
7.
Lachman ME, Weaver SL (1998) The sense of control as a moderator of social class differences in health and well-being. J Personal Soc Psychol 74(3):763–773CrossRef
8.
Brady KT, Sonne SC (1999) The role of stress in alcohol use, alcoholism treatment and relapse. Alcohol Res Health 23(4):263–271PubMed
9.
Pierce RS, Frone MR, Russell M, Cooper ML (1994) Relationship of financial strain and psychosocial resources to alcohol use and abuse: the mediating role of negative affect and drinking motives. J Health Soc Behav 35:291–308CrossRef
10.
Hatch S (2005) Conceptualizing and identifying cumulative adversity and protective resources: implications for understanding health inequalities. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc 60:S130–S134CrossRef
11.
Sayette MA (1999) Cognitive theory and research. In: Leonard K, Blane H (eds) Psychological theories of drinking and alcoholism, 2nd edn. Guilford, New York, pp 47–291
12.
Anisman H, Merali Z (1999) Understanding stress: characteristic and caveats. Alcohol Res Health 23(4):241–249PubMed
13.
Avison W, Turner RJ (1988) Stressful life events and depressive symptoms: disaggregating the effects of acute stressors and chronic strains. J Health Soc Behav 29:253–265PubMedCrossRef
14.
Brennan PL, Schuute KK, Moos BS (1999) Reciprocal relations between stressors and drinking behavior: a three-wave panel study of late middle-aged and older women and men. Addiction 94(5):737–749PubMedCrossRef
15.
Moos RH, Fenn CB, Billings AG, Moos BS (1989) Assessing life stressors and social resources: applications to alcoholic patients. J Subst Abuse 1(2):135–152CrossRef
16.
Walton MA, Blow FC, Bingham CR, Chermack ST (2003) Individual and social/environmental predictors of alcohol and drug use 2 years following substance abuse treatment. Addict Behav 28:627–642PubMedCrossRef
17.
Seeman M, Anderson CS (1983) Alienation and alcohol: the role of work, mastery, and community in drinking behavior. Am Sociol Rev 48:60–77PubMedCrossRef
18.
Koenig HC, Hays JC, George LK, Blazer DG, Larson DB, Landerman LR (1997) Modeling the cross-sectional relationships between religion, physical health, social support, and depressive symptoms. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 5(2):131–144PubMedCrossRef
19.
Krause N (2006) Exploring the stress-buffering effects of church-based and secular social support on self-rated health in late life. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 61(1):S35–S43PubMedCrossRef
20.
Kessler RC (1990–92) National comorbidity survey (computer file). University of Michigan, Survey Research Center, 2nd ICPSR edn. Inter-university consortium for political and social research (producer and distributor), Ann Arbor
21.
Swendsen J, Conway KP, Degenhardt L, Glantz M, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Sampson N, Kessler RC (2010) Mental disorders as risk factors for substance use, abuse and dependence: results from the 10-year follow-up of the national comorbidity survey. Addiction 105(6):1117–1128PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef
22.
Muthén LK, Muthén BO (1998–2007) Mplus user’s guide, 5th edn. Muthén & Muthén, Los Angeles, pp 1998–2007
23.
Hu LT, Bentler PM (1999) Cutoff criteria for fit indices in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Struct Equ Model 6(1):1–55CrossRef
24.
Asparouhov T (2005) Sampling weights in latent variable modeling. Struct Equ Model 12:411–434CrossRef
25.
Poikolainen K, Podkletnova I, Alho H (2002) Accuracy of quantity-frequency and graduated frequency questionnaires in measuring alcohol intake: comparison with daily diary and commonly used laboratory markers. Alcohol Alcohol 37(6):573–576PubMedCrossRef
26.
Gmel G, Graham K, Kuendig H, Kuntsche S (2006) Measuring alcohol consumption––should the ‘graduated frequency’ approach become the norm in survey research? Addiction 101:16–30PubMedCrossRef
27.
Grant BF (1996) DSM-IV, DSM-III-R, and ICD-10 alcohol and drug abuse/harmful use and dependence, United States, 1992: a nosological comparison. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 20(8):1481–1488PubMedCrossRef
28.
Rotter JB (1990) Internal versus external control of reinforcement: a case history of a variable. Am Psychol 45(4):489CrossRef
29.
30.
Schieman S (2008) The religious role and the sense of personal control. Sociol Relig 69(3):273–296CrossRef
31.
Michalak L, Trocki K, Bond J (2007) Religion and alcohol in the US National Alcohol Survey: how important is religion for abstention and drinking? Drug Alcohol Depend 87(2):268–280PubMedCrossRef
32.
Ferri M, Amato L, Davoli M (2006) Alcoholics anonymous and other 12-step programmes for alcohol dependence. Cochrane Database Syst Rev (3):CD005032
33.
34.
Hester RD, Miller WR (1995) Handbook of alcoholism treatment approaches: effective alternatives, 2nd edn. Allyn and Bacon, Boston
35.
Ross CE, Mirowsky J (2013) The sense of personal control: Social structural causes and emotional consequences. In: Aneshensel CS, Phelan JC, Bierman A (eds) Handbook of the sociology of mental health, 2nd edn. Springer, Netherlands, pp 379–402
Metadata
Title
Education, income and alcohol misuse: a stress process model
Authors
Marta Elliott
Jennifer Lowman
Publication date
01-01-2015
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 1/2015
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0867-3

Other articles of this Issue 1/2015

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 1/2015 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Profiles of acculturation among Hispanics in the United States: links with discrimination and substance use

Original Paper

Institutionalization in incident dementia cases in comparison to age- and sex- matched controls: a 5-year follow-up from Germany

Original Paper

Understanding how people who use illicit drugs and alcohol experience relationships with psychiatric inpatient staff

Original Paper

Acceptability of psychological treatment to Chinese- and Caucasian-Australians: Internet treatment reduces barriers but face-to-face care is preferred

Original Paper

Frequencies and predictors of barriers to mental health service use: a longitudinal study of Hurricane Ike survivors

Invited Reviews

Psychopathology and classification in psychiatry