Depression, loneliness and coping (the way in which a person deals with a stressful event) are significantly related to problem drinking for both men and women.

The researchers reviewed data from the Niagara Young Adult Health Study for two groups of people. A younger group: men and women with a mean age of 21.93 years and an older group: men and women with a mean age of 30.69 years. The research team looked at the interplay between coping, loneliness and depression and problem drinking behaviors in both groups. Problem drinking behavior was defined as binge drinking, drink tossing and frequency of intoxication.

Depression and coping style were found to be the strongest predictors of problem drinking behaviors. The association between coping, loneliness and depression and problem drinking tended to be the same for both genders with the single exception that in the group of younger study participants, lonely women tended to drink to intoxication more frequently than did lonely men.

While men and women were about equally likely to engage in problem drinking, differences were found in the patterns of problem drinking when comparing the younger study group to the older study group. In the younger group, higher levels of depression were significantly related to increases in the frequency of intoxication and binge drinking, while using an avoidance coping style was predictive of drink tossing. In contrast, the older study participants did little binge drinking, but among this group, coping by seeking support or avoidance predicted increased frequency of intoxication, while depression was associated with increased drink tossing.

The authors suggest that their findings raise important questions for further research: Are the differences in predictors of problem drinking in younger versus older adults a result of different social contexts in which they live or developmental differences between the age groups?

"Because our two samples were in different stages of their social development, adoption of social rules may have influenced their problem drinking behavior and the psychosocial factors that predicted it," the authors write.

Reference: "Problem Drinking Behavior in Two Community-Based Samples of Adults: Influence of Gender, Coping, Loneliness, and Depression". Michel Bonin, B.A., Donald McCreary, Ph.D., and Stanley Sadava, Ph.D., Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. Vol. 14, No. 2.

07/07/00