Poverty and lack of education contribute to later onset of alcohol problems
A new longitudinal study found that when assessing heavy drinking patterns among people in their 30s, Blacks were at a greater risk for developing drinking problems than Whites. Whites tended to age out of heavy drinking after young adulthood. However, when measures of poverty and education were included in the analyses, Blacks had similar risks of drinking problems to Whites.
“Our findings suggest that Blacks may be at a higher risk for alcohol problems in their thirties than Whites because they experienced greater chronic poverty and had less education than their counterparts,” Camillia K. Lui, lead author and ARG Associate Scientist said. “We often assume that people drink more in their twenties, then as they age and move into their thirties, their social roles change, such as getting married and having children, and they drink less. However, for racial/ethnic minorities, these kinds of protective changes may not apply and the accumulation of disadvantages seem to escalate their risks for alcohol problems after the twenties.”
The results showed no racial/ethnic differences in experiencing alcohol problems in the twenties, nor recurring or persistent problems that occurred in the twenties and thirties. However, as people grew older, it was the cumulative disadvantage of being poor and not having an education that contributed to experiencing alcohol problems after young adulthood. Yet there are very few alcohol interventions that support disadvantaged people as they age.
“However,” Lui added, “while appropriate prevention initiatives are helpful, what we really need is to address the root causes of racial/ethnic disparities such as inequities of income and education. Only then will we see real change happen.”
The study analyzed data from the 1979-1994 waves of the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and included over 8,000 respondents.
Lui, C.K., Mulia, N. (2018). A life course approach to understanding racial/ethnic differences in transitions into and out of alcohol problems. Alcohol and Alcoholism.
Support for this paper was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health under award number R01AA022668. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism or the National Institutes of Health.