The Role of Recovery from Work in Work Stress-Related Drinking

Abstract

Alcohol consumption has been linked to numerous adverse health and well-being outcomes; therefore determining what motivates individuals to drink is of utmost importance. One reason individuals may drink is to cope with work demands and their associated strain. This may be especially relevant for correctional officers (COs) as this occupation has been associated with high levels of job stressors and strain and heavy drinking. Drawing primarily on the job demands-resources and ego depletion models, this study examined how emotional job demands contribute to CO exhaustion and alcohol use. Additionally, interactions between common recovery from work experiences and exhaustion were tested to determine if recovery experiences could serve as a protective influence against work stress-related drinking. Participants were 1,370 correctional officers from 14 correctional facilities within the state of Oregon. Results indicate that exhaustion was positively related to both drinking quantity and drinking frequency and that emotional job demands had significant indirect effects on both types of drinking behaviors through employee exhaustion. The recovery experiences relaxation and detachment significantly moderated the relationship between exhaustion and drinking quantity, but not drinking frequency. Mastery experiences did not influence the strength of the positive relationship between exhaustion and either drinking outcome. These findings suggest that engaging in certain recovery experiences may lead to drinking fewer drinks on days when drinking, however the frequency of those days remains unaffected.