Couples’ Alcohol Use in Middle and Later Life: Stability and Mutual Influence

Polenick, Courtney A.; Birditt, Kira S.; Blow, Frederic C.

doi:10.15288/jsad.2018.79.111

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The effect sizes were generally small. However, the findings for starting or ending relationships are consistent with prior work demonstrating that a partner’s drinking habits can influence another partner’s drinking patterns (e.g., Holway, Umberson, & Thomeer, 2017; Kehayes, Mackinnon, Sherry, Leonard, & Stewart, 2017; Merline, Schulenberg, O’Malley, Bachman, & Johnston, 2008; Polenick, Birditt, & Blow, 2018). For example, Kehayes et al (2017) found young adult partners’ drinking patterns (frequency, quantity, and heavy episodic drinking) were similar, with greater similarity among those who spent more time spent together.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Alcohol motivations and behaviors during months young adults experience social role transitions: Microtransitions in early adulthood.

Patrick¹,

Rhew²,

Lewis³

et al. 2018

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective The study examines how young adult transitions into and out of social roles (i.e., starting or ending a job, school, a romantic relationship) are associated with drinking motives (coping, enhancement, social, and conformity) and alcohol use on a given month. Method A community sample of young adult drinkers (N=767; 56.3% female; 59.3% White; ages 18–23) completed 24 consecutive months of online surveys (N=15,333 months of data) about the previous month’s experiences, social role transitions, and alcohol use. Results During the 2-year data collection window, participants reported starting/ending a job (10.0%/8.2%), a relationship (2.7%/4.3%), and school (9.2%/17.4%). Between-persons, those who more often started jobs were more likely to drink and those who more often ended jobs had higher enhancement motives; those who more often ended relationships were more likely to drink, have a greater number of drinks when drinking, and have higher coping and enhancement motives; and those who more often started relationships had higher conformity motives. Within-persons, in months when a relationship ended participants reported stronger coping motives and in months when a relationship started they reported stronger social motives for drinking. In months when a relationship started or ended, participants also reported consuming a greater number of drinks when drinking. There were no differences based on starting or ending school. Conclusions Young adult social role transitions are associated with concurrent changes in both alcohol use and motives for drinking. Understanding these contextual changes and their concomitant risks is key to providing salient interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Alcohol motivations and behaviors during months young adults experience social role transitions: Microtransitions in early adulthood.

Patrick¹,

Rhew²,

Lewis³

et al. 2018

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Census Bureau, 2013). It is well known that spouses influence each other's health behaviors, including drinking (Polenick et al, 2018;Roberts & Leonard, 1998).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Drinking Together: Implications of Drinking Partners for Negative Marital Quality

Birditt

Polenick

Antonucci

2019

J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Concordant and discordant alcohol use has significant implications for negative marital quality among married couples. Yet, we know little about the frequency with which individuals drink with their spouse versus with other social partners, or the implications of drinking with one's spouse and with others for negative marital quality. Method: Participants were from the third wave of the Social Relations and Health Study, in which 312 (59% women; ages 22-87) married/cohabitating respondents completed a baseline telephone survey followed by monthly web surveys regarding their alcohol use, drinking partners, and negative marital quality. Results: Multilevel models revealed that men and women drink more often with their spouse than with others. Drinking any amount of alcohol with one's spouse for a greater proportion of months was associated with lower negative marital quality (e.g., less criticism and fewer demands) among men and women. The effects of drinking with others varied by gender such that more frequent drinking with others (family and nonfamily) was associated with lower negative marital quality among women and higher negative marital quality among men in the next month. Conclusions: These findings reveal that drinking with one's spouse may partly explain why concordant drinking spouses report lower negative marital quality. Furthermore, drinking with others may be beneficial for women's marriages but harmful for men's. The findings are consistent with the concept of the drinking partnership, which suggests that drinking with one's spouse is often linked to positive outcomes, including lower negative marital quality. (J.

show abstract

“…Secondly, the social effects and occasions of alcohol consumption from the spouse of widowed elderly are less than those of married and couples living-together. This information attests that the interdependence between spouses was an important factor influencing the drinking patterns ( 43 , 44 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Family influences on older adults' problem drinking: A representative nationwide study of China

Feng

Zhang

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

AimIt is reported that problem drinking is severe among the elderly. The family environment has been regarded as a significant effecting factor in alcohol consumption of the drinker. With the increasing number of older people, paying more attention to this vulnerable group's drinking status and its' influencing factors is substantial for improving older adults' health and the quality of health services.MethodsThis study used data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy and Longevity Study (CLHLS), which was a representative survey covering 23 provinces in mainland China. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted with 15,142 older individuals (aged ≥65 years). Three self-reported questions about drinking behavior were examined to calculate alcohol consumption and categorize problem drinkers. Three multi-level models were utilized while adjusting for numerous socio-demographic and self-reported health factors to analyze the effect of family factors associated with problem drinking among the elderly.ResultsA total of 1,800 problem drinkers (12%) were identified in the sample. Key factors for the problem drinker were assessed such as Hukou (governmental household registration system), current marital status, years of schooling, primary caregivers, and financial sources of living were associated with problem drinking. The older population who live in rural areas (OR = 1.702, CI = 1.453, 1.994), with advanced years of education (OR = 1.496, CI = 1.284, 1.744), and making life by themselves (OR = 1.330, CI = 1.139, 1.552) were more likely to engage in problem drinking while those participants who are widowed (OR = 0.678, CI = 0.574, 0.801), cared for by children or other relatives (OR = 0.748, CI = 0.642, 0.871), adult care giver (OR = 0.348, CI = 0.209, 0.578) or by no one (OR = 0.539, CI = 0.348, 0.835), provided with financial support from their children (OR = 0.698, CI = 0.605, 0.806), other relatives (OR = 0.442, CI = 0.332, 0.587), or the government/community (OR = 0.771, CI = 0.650, 0.915), with insufficient financial support (OR = 0.728, CI = 0.608, 0.872) were at lower risk of problem drinking.ConclusionsThis study provides a strong correlation of various family factors that were associated with problem drinking among the elderly. The findings underscore the effort to promote healthy behaviors, including the importance of positive family factors and appropriate levels of alcohol consumption.

show abstract

Couples’ Alcohol Use in Middle and Later Life: Stability and Mutual Influence

Cited by 11 publications

References 39 publications

Alcohol motivations and behaviors during months young adults experience social role transitions: Microtransitions in early adulthood.

Alcohol motivations and behaviors during months young adults experience social role transitions: Microtransitions in early adulthood.

Drinking Together: Implications of Drinking Partners for Negative Marital Quality

Family influences on older adults' problem drinking: A representative nationwide study of China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About