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Tam CC, Li L, Lui CK, Cook WK. Drinking patterns among US men and women: Racial and ethnic differences from adolescence to early midlife. ALCOHOL, CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 48:1076-1087. [PMID: 38829485 PMCID: PMC11178455 DOI: 10.1111/acer.15308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Drinking patterns among young adult men and women in the United States have been understudied, especially among racial and ethnic groups such as Asian Americans and Hispanics. Because alcohol-related racial and ethnic health disparities persist or increase in midlife, identifying peak ages of hazardous drinking could help to reduce disparities. METHODS We used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine: (1) past 12-month heavy episodic drinking (HED) and total alcohol volume consumption among non-Hispanic White (NHW), Black, Hispanic, and Asian men and women from ages 12 through 41, and (2) age-varying associations of race and ethnicity with drinking. Hispanic and Asian ethnic groups were disaggregated by historical drinking patterns. Time-varying effect models accounted for major demographic confounders. RESULTS NHW men and women experienced elevated drinking rates in their early 20s, with a second elevation in their 30s. Black men and women did not have elevated drinking until their 30s. Among Hispanic men and women, peak drinking periods varied by gender and subgroup drinking pattern. Peak HED and total consumption emerged in the early 30s for Asian men, while peak HED occurred in the early 20s for Asian women. Drinking at certain ages for some racial and ethnic minoritized men and women did not differ from that in their NHW counterparts. CONCLUSIONS Age periods during which subgroups in the U.S. population experience elevated alcohol consumption vary by ethnicity and gender. Recognition of these group differences could enhance our understanding of intervention timing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina C Tam
- Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, California, USA
| | - Libo Li
- Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, California, USA
| | - Camillia K Lui
- Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, California, USA
| | - Won Kim Cook
- Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, California, USA
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Sersli S, Gagné T, Shareck M. Social disparities in alcohol consumption among Canadian emerging adults. Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can 2023; 43:499-510. [PMID: 38117475 PMCID: PMC10824153 DOI: 10.24095/hpcdp.43.12.02] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Young adult drinking is a public health priority, but knowledge of socioeconomic status (SES) indicators and alcohol use among emerging adults (EAs; aged 18-29 years) is primarily informed by college samples, populations in their late teens and early twenties and non-Canadian data. We compared the association of three different SES indicators with monthly heavy episodic drinking (HED), less-than-monthly HED, no HED, and no drinking among Canadian EAs. METHODS We pooled the 2015 to 2019 waves of the Canadian Community Health Survey to include participants aged 18 to 29 years (n = 29 598). Using multinomial regression, we calculated weighted estimates of alcohol use by education, household income and area-level disadvantage, adjusting for adult roles and sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS Approximately 30% of EAs engaged in monthly HED, whereas 16% did not drink at all in the past year. Compared to those in the lowest household incomes, being in the top income quintile was significantly associated with increased relative odds of monthly HED (e.g. in combined SES model, RRR = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.04-1.39). Higher levels of education, being in higher income quintiles and living in less disadvantaged areas were significantly associated with reduced relative odds of no HED and not drinking. Adjusting for adult roles did not substantially change the associations between SES and alcohol use. CONCLUSION Higher SES was associated with HED among EAs, although the magnitude of association was small. Universal prevention measures addressing the affordability, availability and marketing of alcohol could be complemented by interventions targeting EA populations at higher risk of HED.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Sersli
- Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé, Département des sciences de la santé communautaire, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
- Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke (CRCHUS), Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
| | - Thierry Gagné
- Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Martine Shareck
- Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé, Département des sciences de la santé communautaire, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
- Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke (CRCHUS), Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
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Matson PA, Stankov I, Krutkova M, Flessa S, Fichtenberg CM, Ellen JM. Investigating the Relative Influence of Romantic Sex Partners and Close Friends on Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use. PREVENTION SCIENCE : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PREVENTION RESEARCH 2023; 24:676-687. [PMID: 37115474 DOI: 10.1007/s11121-023-01536-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
A large body of research has identified peer exposure as a key factor driving adolescent substance use. However, findings on the role of sex partners are less robust and mixed. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the independent contribution of close friends' and sex partners' alcohol and marijuana use on adolescents' use of these substances. A secondary data analysis of social network data collected in 2000-2002 from a household sample of African American youth (14-19 years old) in the Bayview and Hunter's Point neighborhoods of San Francisco was conducted. Index participants and their nominated close friends and romantic sex partners (N = 104 triads) self-reported recent alcohol and marijuana use (defined as any use in the past 3 months). Generalized estimated equations were used to estimate the independent association between adolescent's recent substance use and their friend's and sex partner's use. Adolescents with a marijuana-using romantic sex partner had a nearly six-fold higher odds of using marijuana compared to adolescents with a non-using partner, controlling for close friend's marijuana use and other confounders [OR:5.69, 95%CI: 1.94, 16.7]; no association with close friend's marijuana use was found. A similar pattern was observed for alcohol use. Adolescents with an alcohol-using romantic sex partner had increased odds of using alcohol compared to adolescents with a non-using partner, controlling for close friend's alcohol use and other confounders [OR:2.40, 95%CI: 1.02, 5.63]; no association with close friend's alcohol use was found. Romantic sex partners may play a unique and significant role in adolescent substance use. Peer-focused interventions may be more effective if they consider romantic sex partners. Future research should consider the role of romantic sex partners in changing social context related to substance use from adolescence to young adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela A Matson
- Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Rm 2025, 200 N. Wolfe St., David M. Rubenstein Child Health Building, Baltimore, 21287, MD, USA.
| | - Ivana Stankov
- Dornsife School of Public Health, Urban Health Collaborative, Drexel University, 3600 Market St, 7th Floor, PA, 19104, Philadelphia, USA
- UniSA Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, SAHMRI, North Tce, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia
| | - Mariya Krutkova
- Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Rm 2025, 200 N. Wolfe St., David M. Rubenstein Child Health Building, Baltimore, 21287, MD, USA
| | - Sarah Flessa
- Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Rm 2025, 200 N. Wolfe St., David M. Rubenstein Child Health Building, Baltimore, 21287, MD, USA
| | - Caroline M Fichtenberg
- Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 465, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA
| | - Jonathan M Ellen
- Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Rm 2025, 200 N. Wolfe St., David M. Rubenstein Child Health Building, Baltimore, 21287, MD, USA
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Abstract
Although research on alcohol-related disparities among women is a highly understudied area, evidence shows that racial/ethnic minority women, sexual minority women, and women of low socioeconomic status (based on education, income, or residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods) are more likely to experience alcohol-related problems. These problems include alcohol use disorder, particularly after young adulthood, and certain alcohol-related health, morbidity, and mortality outcomes. In some cases, disparities may reflect differences in alcohol consumption, but in other cases such disparities appear to occur despite similar and possibly lower levels of consumption among the affected groups. To understand alcohol-related disparities among women, several factors should be considered. These include age; the duration of heavy drinking over the life course; the widening disparity in cumulative socioeconomic disadvantage and health in middle adulthood; social status; sociocultural context; genetic factors that affect alcohol metabolism; and access to and quality of alcohol treatment services and health care. To inform the development of interventions that might mitigate disparities among women, research is needed to identify the factors and mechanisms that contribute most to a group's elevated risk for a given alcohol-related problem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Mulia
- Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, California
| | - Kara M Bensley
- Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, California
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Zemore SE, Lui C, Mulia N. The Downward Spiral: Socioeconomic Causes and Consequences of Alcohol Dependence among Men in Late Young Adulthood, and Relations to Racial/Ethnic Disparities. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2020; 44:669-678. [PMID: 31984509 PMCID: PMC7081966 DOI: 10.1111/acer.14292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2019] [Accepted: 01/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND While young adults are generally at highest risk for alcohol problems, not all age out of problem drinking. Evidence suggests that Blacks and Latinos age out more slowly than Whites, particularly among men. Targeting men, we investigated whether differences in lifecourse SES might explain racial/ethnic disparities in alcohol dependence in late young adulthood, along with how experiencing alcohol dependence at that life stage relates to subsequent SES. METHODS We used longitudinal, national data to (i) describe racial/ethnic disparities in late young adult alcohol dependence criteria (LYADC), (ii) examine whether income trajectory in early young adulthood contributes to these racial/ethnic disparities, and (iii) test whether LYADC reciprocally predicts income trajectory in early midlife. Data were from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 3,993), which measured LYADC in 1994 (mean age = 33). Income trajectory classes were derived for early young adulthood (mean ages = 21 to 31) and, separately, early midlife (mean ages = 35 to 45). Analyses included negative binomial regressions and multinomial regressions. RESULTS Both Black and US-born Latino men reported more LYADC than White men. Further, membership in the persistently low and slow increase (vs. stable middle) early young adult income trajectory classes was associated with more LYADC. Multivariate analyses suggested that Black-White disparities in LYADC were explained by early young adult income trajectories, whereas Latino-White disparities in the same were explained by both early young adult income trajectories and early education. In controlled models, more LYADC predicted a higher likelihood of membership in the persistently low (vs. stable middle) income trajectory class in early midlife. CONCLUSIONS This study found that poorer SES in early adulthood contributes to alcohol dependence, which reciprocally contributes to poorer SES in early midlife. This cycle appears particularly likely to affect Black and US-born Latino men. Results underline the need to address socioeconomic factors in addressing racial/ethnic disparities in alcohol problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E Zemore
- From the, Alcohol Research Group, Emeryville, California
| | - Camillia Lui
- From the, Alcohol Research Group, Emeryville, California
| | - Nina Mulia
- From the, Alcohol Research Group, Emeryville, California
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Development of Alcohol Use Disorder as a Function of Age, Severity, and Comorbidity with Externalizing and Internalizing Disorders in a Young Adult Cohort. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 4. [PMID: 31853508 PMCID: PMC6919651 DOI: 10.20900/jpbs.20190016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Background As part of the ongoing Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism, we performed a longitudinal study of a high risk cohort of adolescents/young adults from families with a proband with an alcohol use disorder, along with a comparison group of age-matched controls. The intent was to compare the development of alcohol problems in subjects at risk with and without comorbid externalizing and internalizing psychiatric disorders. Methods Subjects (N = 3286) were assessed with a structured psychiatric interview at 2 year intervals over 10 years (2004-2017). The age range at baseline was 12-21. Results Subjects with externalizing disorders (with or without accompanying internalizing disorders) were at increased risk for the onset of an alcohol use disorder during the observation period. Subjects with internalizing disorders were at greater risk than those without comorbid disorders for onset of a moderate or severe alcohol use disorder. The statistical effect of comorbid disorders was greater in subjects with more severe alcohol use disorders. The developmental trajectory of drinking milestones and alcohol use disorders was also accelerated in those with more severe disorders. Conclusions These results may be useful for counseling of subjects at risk who present for clinical care, especially those subjects manifesting externalizing and internalizing disorders in the context of a positive family history of an alcohol use disorder. We confirm and extend findings that drinking problems in subjects at greatest risk will begin in early adolescence.
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