Associations between volume of alcohol consumption and social status, intelligence, and personality in a sample of young adult Danes.
Relatively few studies have investigated associations between volume of alcohol consumption and psychological characteristics in normal samples. A sub-sample, comprising 363 men and 331 women between 29 and 34 years of age, was selected from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort on the basis of perinatal records. The sample was divided into four consumption categories: abstainers (including occasional drinkers), light, moderate, and risk drinkers. ANOVA and relevant contrasts were used to test the significance of differences among consumption categories. Both abstaining and risk drinking were associated with low social status family background, low education and intelligence. Abstaining was associated with low disinhibition and social recognition scores, while risk drinking was associated with high neuroticism and, in males, high disinhibition, low social recognition, and low achievement scores. Compared with light drinkers, a more "carefree" life orientation characterized male moderate drinkers, while relatively high scores on anxiety, dysthymia, and somatoform symptom scales characterized female moderate drinkers.
Mortensen
Erik Lykke
EL
Department of Health Psychology, Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. e.l.mortensen@pubhealth.ku.dk
Jensen
Hans Henrik
HH
Sanders
Stephanie A
SA
Reinisch
June Machover
JM
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D012923:Social Class