Because of its unique characteristics and pattern of underdetection, geriatric alcohol misuse has often been described as the """"""""silent epidemic"""""""". Alcohol misuse by older adults is a significant public health concern and is projected to worsen with the aging of the """"""""baby boom"""""""" generation. To help understand the nature of the emerging problem on older adult alcoholism, it is crucial to investigate factors that influence consumption and problem use among older adults. Stress and coping are two such factors and are part of a framework for understanding alcohol consumption and problem use in older adults. In older adult populations, findings are mixed on the role of stress and coping in alcohol use, with some research identifying associations between stressors and increased drinking, while other studies have not found a relationship. Researchers have tended to group disparate subpopulations of drinkers together, potentially obscuring significant relationships between stress and drinking in subgroups. Additionally, studies have compared the role of stress and coping, specific to alcohol use, in older adults to younger age groups are rare, and conceptual models of stress and coping have not been tested specifically in older adults. Therefore, this study will develop and test a stress-coping model of older adult drinking, with the following aims: 1) To test a stress and coping model of current (past-year) alcohol use, binge drinking, and alcohol-related problems in a nationally representative sample of older adults; 2) To examine differences in stress and coping relationships in this model based on whether older adults are at-risk based on exceeding NIAAA guidelines for alcohol consumption by older adults; 3) To investigate cohort differences in the Stress and Coping model between young adult (20-29), early middle age (30-45), later middle age (45-59) and older adult (60+) life stages. To achieve these aims, this investigator will conduct secondary analysis of the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). A theoretical model of stress and coping will be tested via structural equation modeling (SEM) using measures of stressful events, social support, cognitive appraisal, and alcohol use. By understanding these relationships, treatments can be refined to address important mediating relationships. By understanding subgroup differences in populations of drinkers classified by at-risk consumption pattern, clinicians and prevention specialists can target assessment to groups at greatest risk. On a theoretical level, this research will add to current understanding of the stress-alcohol relationship in late life compared to earlier life stages, and delineate the ways in which stress influences drinking in higher risk subpopulations of older adults. ? ? ?
| Sacco, Paul; Bucholz, Kathleen K; Harrington, Donna (2014) Gender differences in stressful life events, social support, perceived stress, and alcohol use among older adults: results from a National Survey. Subst Use Misuse 49:456-65 |
| Gattis, Maurice N; Sacco, Paul; Cunningham-Williams, Renee M (2012) Substance use and mental health disorders among heterosexual identified men and women who have same-sex partners or same-sex attraction: results from the national epidemiological survey on alcohol and related conditions. Arch Sex Behav 41:1185-97 |
| Sacco, Paul; Bucholz, Kathleen K; Spitznagel, Edward L (2009) Alcohol use among older adults in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions: a latent class analysis. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 70:829-38 |
