What is the role of roles? Exploring the link between social roles and women’s alcohol use in low- and middle-income countries

  • Ulrike Grittner Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin
  • Zsofia Nemeth Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin
  • Sandra Kuntsche Addiction Switzerland
  • Beate Gaertner Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin
  • Kim Bloomfield Aarhus University
Keywords: Social roles, drinking status, risky drinking

Abstract

Grittner, U., Nemeth, Z., Kuntsche, S., Gaertner, B., & Bloomfield, K. (2015). What is the role of roles? Exploring the link between social roles and women’s alcohol use in low- and middle-income countries. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 4(2), 139-149. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v4i2.211

Aims: This paper investigates how social roles are related to alcohol use among women in low- and middle-income countries.


Methods: Cross-sectional data were used from 25-49-years-old women in 11 low- and middle-income countries from the GenACIS project. Dependent variables were current drinking and risky drinking (10+gr/day). Information on partnership, parenthood and having paid labour were used as social role measures. Multiple and multilevel regression analyses were carried out to test whether holding several roles are related to current and risky drinking.


Results: Having paid work was associated with current and risky drinking across countries. Having a partner and having children were associated with a higher likelihood of abstention. With regard to country level characteristics per capita consumption was significantly related to both current drinking and risky drinking among women, while gross national income was significantly associated only with current drinking. Gender equality within the country did not have a significant association with women’s drinking. Concerning differing role combinations, working single women without children were most likely to be risky drinkers, while women who were not working and had a partner and children were the least likely.


Conclusions: Paid labour was a substantial singular factor positively associated with women’s drinking. In addition, with the exception of Argentina and Kazakhstan, high per capita consumption on country level was associated with higher prevalence of risky drinking among women.

Author Biographies

Ulrike Grittner, Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin

Department for Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology, Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Center for Stroke Research, Charité – University Medicine, Berlin, Germany

Zsofia Nemeth, Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin

ELTE Faculty of Education and Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology and Addiction, Budapest, Hungary

Department for Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology, Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Sandra Kuntsche, Addiction Switzerland
Addiction Switzerland, Research Institute, Lausanne, Switzerland
Beate Gaertner, Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin

Department for Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology, Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Robert Koch Institute, Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Berlin, Germany

Kim Bloomfield, Aarhus University

Department for Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology, Charité – University Medical Centre Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Published
2015-12-18
How to Cite
Grittner, U., Nemeth, Z., Kuntsche, S., Gaertner, B., & Bloomfield, K. (2015). What is the role of roles? Exploring the link between social roles and women’s alcohol use in low- and middle-income countries. International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 4(2), 139-149. https://doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v4i2.211
Section
Other Papers