Table 4.

Multinomial logit with relative risk ratios for the association of personal characteristics and life events with drinking behavior

	Steady drinker		Increasing drinker		Decreasing drinker		Sporadic drinker
Drinking behavior	(1)	(2)	(1)	(2)	(1)	(2)	(1)	(2)
Drinking history
CAGE score	1.083	1.088	1.282*	1.279*	0.847*	0.848*	1.048	1.047
	[0.977, 1.200]	[0.980, 1.208]	[1.051, 1.565]	[1.039, 1.575]	[0.747, 0.961]	[0.748, 0.960]	[0.958, 1.147]	[0.956, 1.147]
Income and demographic characteristics
Household income	1.087***	1.083***	1.090***	1.082***	1.060***	1.059***	1.064***	1.060***
	[1.058, 1.117]	[1.054, 1.112]	[1.054, 1.128]	[1.045, 1.120]	[1.029, 1.093]	[1.028, 1.091]	[1.034, 1.095]	[1.032, 1.090]
Works full time	1.074	1.000	0.985	0.943	1.032	1.038	0.942	0.870
	[0.889, 1.297]	[0.795, 1.259]	[0.633, 1.531]	[0.608, 1.463]	[0.878, 1.214]	[0.853, 1.264]	[0.799, 1.109]	[0.731, 1.036]
Became retired		1.139		0.974		0.990		1.131
		[0.943, 1.375]		[0.636, 1.492]		[0.811, 1.208]		[0.970, 1.318]
Became disabled		0.604*		1.687		0.670		1.095
		[0.404, 0.903]		[0.518,5.497]		[0.350, 1.283]		[0.774, 1.550]
Years of education	1.165***	1.157***	1.213***	1.197***	1.107***	1.101***	1.062***	1.058**
	[1.124, 1.207]	[1.118, 1.198]	[1.108, 1.327]	[1.093, 1.311]	[1.068, 1.147]	[1.062, 1.140]	[1.029, 1.096]	[1.025, 1.093]
Age	1.025	1.025	1.000	1.017	1.051**	1.055***	1.012	1.017
	[0.999, 1.051]	[0.998, 1.054]	[0.951, 1.052]	[0.963, 1.074]	[1.023, 1.080]	[1.027, 1.085]	[0.987, 1.038]	[0.991, 1.043]
White	1.401*	1.345*	3.958*	3.540*	1.061	1.030	0.955	0.926
	[1.079, 1.819]	[1.033, 1.751]	[1.118, 14.00]	[1.012, 12.386]	[0.822, 1.369]	[0.788, 1.346]	[0.774, 1.179]	[0.750, 1.143]
Female	0.600**	0.612**	0.267***	0.280***	0.787	0.795	0.699**	0.704*
	[0.454, 0.794]	[0.463, 0.810]	[0.149, 0.477]	[0.155, 0.504]	[0.563, 1.100]	[0.568, 1.113]	[0.537, 0.908]	[0.541, 0.915]
Married	0.633**	0.644**	0.602	0.681	0.805	0.807	0.718**	0.732**
	[0.493, 0.812]	[0.502, 0.827]	[0.342, 1.061]	[0.372, 1.246]	[0.637, 1.017]	[0.636, 1.025]	[0.597, 0.863]	[0.611, 0.877]
Became married		0.991		1.211		0.863		1.089
		[0.630, 1.557]		[0.420, 3.489]		[0.555, 1.342]		[0.771, 1.539]
Became divorced		1.525		1.549		1.824**		1.575*
		[0.978, 2.379]		[0.788, 3.044]		[1.191, 2.793]		[1.065, 2.329]
Death of spouse		0.943		0.425		0.938		1.019
		[0.709, 1.254]		[0.158, 1.145]		[0.772, 1.139]		[0.843, 1.231]
Health and cognitive status
Fair/poor health	0.397***	0.423***	0.340**	0.364*	0.554***	0.557***	0.587***	0.611***
	[0.305, 0.518]	[0.326, 0.549]	[0.155, 0.744]	[0.169, 0.784]	[0.434, 0.707]	[0.437, 0.710]	[0.481, 0.717]	[0.500, 0.747]
Hospitalized		0.961		0.939		1.060		0.955
		[0.900, 1.025]		[0.712, 1.238]		[0.988, 1.137]		[0.903, 1.010]
New diabetes diagnosis		0.638**		0.353*		0.999		0.786*
		[0.490, 0.830]		[0.158, 0.789]		[0.824, 1.212]		[0.637, 0.969]

	Steady drinker		Increasing drinker		Decreasing drinker		Sporadic drinker
Drinking behavior	(1)	(2)	(1)	(2)	(1)	(2)	(1)	(2)
New cancer diagnosis		1.325		1.280		1.039		1.164
		[0.977, 1.796]		[0.706, 2.321]		[0.735, 1.470]		[0.896, 1.512]
New stroke		0.647*		0.389		0.592**		0.728
		[0.431, 0.970]		[0.097, 1.556]		[0.408, 0.860]		[0.500, 1.059]
New psych, diagnosis		0.966		1.394		1.133		1.022
		[0.757, 1.233]		[0.625, 3.113]		[0.859, 1.495]		[0.847, 1.232]
Cognition score	1.019	1.018	1.025	1.022	1.016	1.016	1.007	1.006
	[0.997, 1.041]	[0.997, 1.040]	[0.985, 1.067]	[0.981, 1.063]	[0.995, 1.037]	[0.995, 1.037]	[0.991, 1.023]	[0.990, 1.023]
CESD score	0.898**	0.900**	0.777*	0.764*	0.938*	0.928*	0.977	0.975
	[0.837, 0.963]	[0.838, 0.967]	[0.635, 0.952]	[0.624, 0.935]	[0.879, 1.000]	[0.871, 0.989]	[0.924, 1.033]	[0.919, 1.033]
Attitude and social support
Risk averse	0.939	0.934	1.031	1.033	0.944	0.943	0.974	0.971
	[0.863, 1.021]	[0.859, 1.016]	[0.829, 1.282]	[0.828, 1.289]	[0.874, 1.020]	[0.872, 1.020]	[0.911, 1.041]	[0.910, 1.036]
Financial planning horizon	1.148**	1.133*	1.207	1.173	1.096	1.096	0.997	0.990
	[1.041, 1.265]	[1.030, 1.246]	[0.899, 1.620]	[0.893, 1.540]	[0.999, 1.203]	[0.997, 1.204]	[0.918, 1.083]	[0.913, 1.073]
Freq. of religious service attendance	0.738***	0.727***	0.785*	0.770*	0.696***	0.690***	0.771***	0.763***
	[0.680, 0.801]	[0.670, 0.790]	[0.628, 0.981]	[0.618, 0.958]	[0.639, 0.758]	[0.633, 0.753]	[0.719, 0.827]	[0.711, 0.819]
Importance of religion	0.373***	0.388***	0.269**	0.280**	0.596*	0.608*	0.480***	0.496***
	[0.262, 0.532]	[0.271, 0.557]	[0.112, 0.650]	[0.119, 0.660]	[0.387, 0.916]	[0.393, 0.940]	[0.337, 0.684]	[0.346, 0.711]
Freq. of socializing with neighbors	0.989	0.982	1.226**	1.218**	0.984	0.982	0.973	0.967
	[0.919, 1.064]	[0.912, 1.056]	[1.066, 1.410]	[1.059, 1.402]	[0.909, 1.065]	[0.908, 1.062]	[0.915, 1.036]	[0.910, 1.028]
Relatives nearby	0.664**	0.675**	0.583	0.600	0.603***	0.596***	0.782**	0.787**
	[0.495, 0.889]	[0.506, 0.901]	[0.336, 1.013]	[0.345, 1.046]	[0.499, 0.729]	[0.492, 0.721]	[0.660, 0.927]	[0.664, 0.933]
Death of a sibling		0.800*		0.575*		0.834		0.781**
		[0.673, 0.950]		[0.365, 0.905]		[0.685, 1.016]		[0.684, 0.893]
Good friends nearby	1.217*	1.187	1.040	1.009	1.315*	1.314*	1.110	1.099
	[1.004, 1.474]	[0.976, 1.444]	[0.651, 1.662]	[0.633, 1.608]	[1.056, 1.638]	[1.052, 1.641]	[0.922, 1.336]	[0.908, 1.329]
Observations, n				6,787

Notes: Statistics are relative risk ratios, with 95% confidence intervals in brackets. Column (1) excludes life events/health shocks; column (2) is full specification. Results calculated using survey weights, clustering, and strata. CESD = Center for Epidemiological Studies—Depression scale; psych. = psychiatric.

^*p < .05;

^**p < .01;

^***p < .001.