Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Affect Risk for Alcohol Problems

Numerous studies highlight the importance of environmental influences on risk behaviors for substance use. Neighborhoods provide basic infrastructure and important social contexts, and thus are critical influences on the risk for alcohol problems. To address the lack of recent U.S. studies of the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and alcohol outcomes, NIAAA-supported investigators analyzed data from the 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys.

In these large surveys of U.S. adults, researchers led by Dr. Katherine Karriker-Jaffe at the Alcohol Research Group in Emeryville, CA, measured neighborhood disadvantage by assessing levels of employment, income, education, and related indicators of socioeconomic status.

The researchers found that the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on drinking outcomes varied among subgroups in the study. For example, neighborhood disadvantage was significantly associated with increased abstinence (nondrinking) for all groups except Black and Hispanic men. Among drinkers, neighborhood disadvantage was associated with decreased heavy drinking by Whites but increased heavy drinking by Blacks. Neighborhood disadvantage was significantly associated with negative alcohol consequences for White women and was marginally significant for Black men, but was not significant for other groups. Finally, despite elevated odds of alcohol dependence for White women, neighborhood disadvantage was not significantly associated with alcohol dependence for any other group. The findings appeared in the November 2012 issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Investigators conclude that their findings may have important implications for preventing alcohol problems. Targeted interventions could be developed to address unequal impacts of neighborhood disadvantage. In particular, efforts to reach Blacks and White women in disadvantaged areas may decrease heavy drinking and lessen the burden of alcohol problems among these groups.

The article abstract can be found here:

Neighborhood disadvantage and adult alcohol outcomes: Differential risk by race and gender.