title: Psychological Distress and Problem Drinking.
abstract: We examine the influence of harmful alcohol use on mental health using a flexible two-step instrumental variables approach and household survey data from nine countries of the former Soviet Union. Using alcohol advertisements to instrument for alcohol, we show that problem drinking has a large detrimental effect on psychological distress, with problem drinkers exhibiting a 42% increase in the number of mental health problems reported and a 15% higher chance of reporting very poor mental health. Ignoring endogeneity leads to an underestimation of the damaging effect of excessive drinking. Findings suggest that more effective alcohol policies and treatment services in the former Soviet Union may have added benefits in terms of reducing poor mental health.
authors: Economics Department, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors: Emmanouil
authors: E
authors: Mentzakis
authors: European Centre on Health of Societies in Transition, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors: Bayard
authors: B
authors: Roberts
authors: Centre for Health Economics, University of York, York, UK.
authors: Marc
authors: M
authors: Suhrcke
authors: European Centre on Health of Societies in Transition, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: McKee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015984:Causality; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D014586:USSR / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: advertising; alcohol abuse; causality; instrumental variables; mental health