Relationship of financial strain and psychosocial resources to alcohol use and abuse: the mediating role of negative affect and drinking motives.

Limited research has examined the relationship between financial strain and alcohol use and abuse. Building on affect regulation theory and recent research in the stress and alcohol literatures, this study developed and tested a model relating financial strain, social resources, personal resources, depression, and drinking to cope to alcohol use and abuse. Data were obtained from a random sample of 1,424 adults who indicated that they had drunk alcohol in the previous year. We tested and then revised our model using structural equation modeling analysis. Results supported the affect regulation model of financial strain and alcohol use and abuse. Generally, depression mediated the relationship between financial strain and drinking to cope, and drinking to cope mediated the relationship between depression and alcohol use and abuse. In addition, both gender and race moderated six of the relationships in our revised model.

[1]  H. Tennen,et al.  Depression, self-esteem, and the absence of self-protective attributional biases. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[2]  K. Trew,et al.  Life‐styles and psychological well‐being among unemployed men in Northern Ireland , 1985 .

[3]  M. Hilton.  Demographic characteristics and the frequency of heavy drinking as predictors of self-reported drinking problems. , 1987, British journal of addiction.

[4]  L. Robins,et al.  National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Its history, characteristics, and validity. , 1981, Archives of general psychiatry.

[5]  D. A. Parker,et al.  Alcohol use and depression symptoms among female nursing students. , 1988, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[6]  S Gore,et al.  The effect of social support in moderating the health consequences of unemployment. , 1978, Journal of health and social behavior.

[7]  M. Lieberman,et al.  The stress process. , 1981, Journal of health and social behavior.

[8]  S. Wilsnack,et al.  Women's drinking and drinking problems: patterns from a 1981 national survey. , 1984, American journal of public health.

[9]  M. Kernis,et al.  Stability of self-esteem as a moderator of the relation between level of self-esteem and depression. , 1991, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[10]  M. Brenner,et al.  Unemployment and health in the context of economic change. , 1983, Social science & medicine.

[11]  G. Marshall,et al.  Optimism, self-mastery, and symptoms of depression in women professionals. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[12]  M. L. Cooper,et al.  Development and validation of a three-dimensional measure of drinking motives. , 1992 .

[13]  P. Warr.  Job Loss, Unemployment and Psychological Well-Being , 1984 .

[14]  J. House,et al.  Intervening processes in the relationship between unemployment and health , 1987, Psychological Medicine.

[15]  E. Menaghan.  Psychological Well-Being Among Parents and Nonparents , 1989 .

[16]  C. Lindenberg,et al.  Empirical evidence for the Social Stress Model of Substance Abuse. , 1993, Research in nursing & health.

[17]  R. Smart.  Drinking problems among employed, unemployed and shift workers. , 1979, Journal of Occupational Medicine.

[18]  C. Ross,et al.  Hardship and depression. , 1985, Journal of health and social behavior.

[19]  M. Straus,et al.  Stressful events, stressful conditions and alcohol problems in the United States: a partial test of Bales's theory. , 1985, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[20]  R. Kessler,et al.  Stress, social status, and psychological distress. , 1979, Journal of health and social behavior.

[21]  P. Voydanoff,et al.  Economic distress, family coping, and quality of family life. , 1988 .

[22]  G. Huba,et al.  Depression, alcohol use, and smoking over one year: a four-wave longitudinal causal model. , 1983, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[23]  S. Wilsnack,et al.  Drinking and reproductive dysfunction among women in a 1981 national survey. , 1984, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[24]  D. Heien,et al.  Stress, ethnic and distribution factors in a dichotomous response model of alcohol abuse. , 1987, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[25]  Peter M. Bentler,et al.  EQS : structural equations program manual , 1989 .

[26]  D. Cooke,et al.  Self-reported alcohol consumption and dissimulation in a Scottish urban sample. , 1983, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[27]  Kenneth A. Bollen,et al.  Structural Equations with Latent Variables , 1989 .

[28]  R. Moos,et al.  Assessing life stressors and social resources: applications to alcoholic patients. , 1988, Journal of substance abuse.

[29]  R. Payne,et al.  Social Class and Reported Changes in Behavior After Job Loss , 1983 .

[30]  S. Tomkins,et al.  The experience of affect as a determinant of smoking behavior: a series of validity studies. , 1973, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[31]  N. Kreitman,et al.  Unemployment and drinking behaviour: some data from a general population survey of alcohol use. , 1987, British journal of addiction.

[32]  L. Pearlin.  The sociological study of stress. , 1989, Journal of health and social behavior.

[33]  N. Heather,et al.  Effects of unemployment on drinking behavior: a review of the relevant evidence. , 1986, The International journal of the addictions.

[34]  R. Moos,et al.  Life stressors, social resources, and late-life problem drinking. , 1990, Psychology and aging.

[35]  J. George,et al.  The role of negative affectivity in understanding relations between self-reports of stressors and strains: a comment on the applied psychology literature. , 1993, The Journal of applied psychology.

[36]  D. Renner,et al.  Hard times and vulnerable people: initial effects of plant closing on autoworkers' mental health. , 1990, Journal of health and social behavior.

[37]  M. Olkinuora.  Alcoholism and occupation. , 1984, Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health.

[38]  P. Warr,et al.  Social support, social pressures and psychological distress during unemployment , 1985, Psychological Medicine.

[39]  Forcier Mw.  Unemployment and alcohol abuse: a review. , 1988 .

[40]  Michael R. Frone,et al.  Stressful life events, gender, and substance use: An application of tobit regression. , 1994 .

[41]  V. Adesso,et al.  Gender differences in using alcohol to cope with depression. , 1991, Addictive behaviors.

[42]  M. L. Cooper,et al.  Coping, expectancies, and alcohol abuse: a test of social learning formulations. , 1988, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[43]  M. Rosenberg.  Society and the adolescent self-image , 1966 .

[44]  L. Radloff.  The CES-D Scale , 1977 .

[45]  E. S. Parker,et al.  Alcohol use and depression symptoms among employed men and women. , 1987, American journal of public health.

[46]  D. Celentano,et al.  Unemployment and psychiatric distress: social resources and coping. , 1988, Social science & medicine.

[47]  B. Dohrenwend,et al.  Exemplification of a method for scaling life events: the Peri Life Events Scale. , 1978, Journal of health and social behavior.

[48]  M. L. Cooper,et al.  Relationship of work-family conflict, gender, and alcohol expectancies to alcohol use/abuse , 1993 .

[49]  J. Ware,et al.  The Quantification of Social Contacts and Resources , 1982 .

[50]  John E. Ware,et al.  A model of mental health, life events, and social supports applicable to general populations , 1981 .

[51]  Bruce R. Orvis,et al.  Alcohol problems: Patterns and prevalence in the U.S. Air Force , 1979 .

[52]  L. Iversen,et al.  Alcohol consumption among laid-off workers before and after closure of a Danish ship-yard: a 2-year follow-up study. , 1986, Social science & medicine.

[53]  T. Wills,et al.  Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. , 1985, Psychological bulletin.

[54]  H. Mulford,et al.  Drinking in Iowa. III. A scale of definitions of alcohol related to drinking behavior. , 1960, Quarterly journal of studies on alcohol.

[55]  Sheldon Cohen,et al.  Positive Events and Social Supports as Buffers of Life Change Stress , 1983 .

[56]  L. Pearlin,et al.  Economic Strains and the Coping Function of Alcohol , 1976, American Journal of Sociology.

[57]  A. Stanton,et al.  Assessment of the validity of the Reasons for Smoking scale. , 1990, Addictive behaviors.

[58]  M. Kernis.  The Roles of Stability and Level of Self-Esteem in Psychological Functioning , 1993 .

[59]  F. Lorenz,et al.  Husband and wife differences in response to undesirable life events. , 1993, Journal of health and social behavior.

[60]  D. Dooley,et al.  Job loss and alcohol abuse: a test using data from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area project. , 1993, Journal of health and social behavior.

[61]  E. S. Parker,et al.  Alcohol and sober mood state in female social drinkers. , 1983, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[62]  D. Cahalan,et al.  American drinking practices: A national study of drinking behavior and attitudes. , 1970 .

[63]  P. Warr,et al.  Factors influencing the psychological impact of prolonged unemployment and of re-employment , 1985, Psychological Medicine.

[64]  J. Neff.  Race and vulnerability to stress: an examination of differential vulnerability. , 1985, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[65]  E. Hartka,et al.  A meta-analysis of depressive symptomatology and alcohol consumption over time. , 1991, British journal of addiction.

[66]  R. Doll,et al.  The Epidemiology of Cancer , 1980, Cancer.