The Dop System of Alcohol Distribution is Dead, but It’s Legacy Lives On…

Philip A. May, Anna-Susan Marais, Marlene De Vries, Julie M. Hasken, Julie M. Stegall, Dixie M. Hedrick, Cudore L. Snell, Soraya Seedat and Charles D.H. Parry
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Philip A. May: Nutrition Research Institute, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC 27599, USA
Anna-Susan Marais: Stellenbosch University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Tygerberg, Cape Town 7505, South Africa
Marlene De Vries: Stellenbosch University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Tygerberg, Cape Town 7505, South Africa
Julie M. Hasken: Nutrition Research Institute, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC 27599, USA
Julie M. Stegall: Nutrition Research Institute, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC 27599, USA
Dixie M. Hedrick: Nutrition Research Institute, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, NC 27599, USA
Cudore L. Snell: School of Social Work, Howard University, Washington 20059, DC, USA
Soraya Seedat: Stellenbosch University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Tygerberg, Cape Town 7505, South Africa
Charles D.H. Parry: Stellenbosch University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Tygerberg, Cape Town 7505, South Africa

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-17

Abstract: Objective: Determine the prevalence of Dop, a system of labor payment via alcoholic beverages, in a South African province, and its influence on maternal drinking and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Methods: Data from studies of FASD epidemiology were analyzed. Results: Forty-two percent to 67% of mothers reported drinking. In 1999, 5% of women reported Dop allocations in their lifetime: 14% of mothers of FASD children and 1% of controls. In 2010, 1.1% of mothers reported lifetime Dop: 1.6% of FASD mothers and 0.7% of controls. Commercial alcohol sales have replaced the Dop system. Total FASD rates remained high in rural areas in 2010 and rose in urban settings. Urban rates of total FASD surpassed rural area rates in 2010. Correlation analysis did not reveal a strong or significant, direct relationship between Dop experience and heavy drinking ( r = 0.123, p < 0.001, r 2 = 0.015), or the diagnosis of FASD in children ( OR = 0.003, p = 0.183). Conclusion: Dop, as a systematic practice, is dead and does not have a direct influence on alcohol availability, heavy maternal drinking, or the probability of an FASD diagnosis. Nevertheless, today’s problematic drinking patterns were heavily influenced (shaped) by Dop and have negatively impacted the prevalence and severity of FASD.

Keywords: alcohol use and abuse; epidemiology; fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD); farm workers; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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