Educational differences in excessive alcohol consumption: the role of psychosocial and material stressors.
BACKGROUND
Socioeconomic differences in health are determined mainly by socioeconomic differences in unhealthy behavior. Little is known, however, about the mechanisms that account for socioeconomic differences in unhealthy behavior, such as excessive alcohol consumption. In this paper we examined educational differences in excessive alcohol consumption in The Netherlands and whether these may be explained by educational differences in experienced stress and stress-moderating factors.


METHODS
Data were obtained from the baseline survey of the Longitudinal Study on Socio Economic Health Differences in 1991. Excessive drinking was defined as drinking more than six glasses on 3 or more days a week or more than four glasses on 5 or more days a week. Socioeconomic status was indicated by educational level. Stressors were divided into psychosocial and material factors. Analyses were performed for women (n = 756) and men (n = 1,006) separately, among drinkers only.


RESULTS
Excessive alcohol consumption was more common among lower educational groups. Material stressors, such as financial problems, deprivation, and income, were related to part of the educational gradient in excessive alcohol consumption. Differences in stress-moderating factors were not related to the educational gradient in excessive drinking.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that improvement of material conditions among the lower educational groups could result in a reduction of socioeconomic differences in excessive alcohol consumption.
Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. droomers@mgz.fgg.eur.nl
M
M
Droomers
C T
CT
Schrijvers
K
K
Stronks
D
D
van de Mheen
J P
JP
Mackenbach
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003467:Cultural Deprivation; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010551:Personality; D011203:Poverty; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012923:Social Class; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*