Gender Differences in the Association between Positive Drinking Attitudes and Alcohol-Related Problems. The WIRUS Study

Neda S. Hashemi, Mikkel Magnus Thørrisen, Jens Christoffer Skogen, Hildegunn Sagvaag, David Gimeno Ruiz de Porras and Randi Wågø Aas
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Neda S. Hashemi: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway
Mikkel Magnus Thørrisen: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway
Jens Christoffer Skogen: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway
Hildegunn Sagvaag: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway
David Gimeno Ruiz de Porras: Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences, School of Public Health in San Antonio, The University of Texas Health Science at Houston, Houston, TX 77229, USA
Randi Wågø Aas: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-15

Abstract: Background: Alcohol consumption is deeply integrated in people’s social- and work lives and, thus, constitutes a serious public health challenge. Attitudes toward drinking stand out as important predictors of drinking, but have to date been sparsely studied in employee populations. This study explores the association of employees’ attitudes toward drinking with their alcohol-related problems, and whether this association is moderated by gender and employment sector. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from a heterogeneous sample of employees ( N = 4094) at 19 Norwegian companies. Drinking attitudes were assessed using the Drinking Norms Scale. The AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) scale was then used to assess any alcohol-related problems. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and multiple logistic regression. Results: Employees with predominantly positive drinking attitudes were almost three times as likely to report alcohol-related problems compared to employees with more negative drinking attitudes (OR = 2.75; 95% CI: 2.00–3.76). Gender moderated the association between positive drinking attitudes and alcohol-related problems (OR = 3.30; 95% CI: 2.10–5.21). The association was stronger in women (OR = 5.21; 95% CI: 3.34–8.15) than in men (OR = 3.10; 95% CI: 2.11–4.55). Employment sector did not moderate the association between drinking attitudes and alcohol-related problems. Conclusions: Employee attitudes toward alcohol should be monitored to better enable early workplace health promotion interventions targeting alcohol problems. These interventions might need to be gender-specific.

Keywords: alcohol attitudes; norms; gender differences; public health; occupational health; workplace interventions; sick leave; presenteeism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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