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. 2010 Jul;71(4):515–525. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2010.71.515

Table 2.

Prevalence and means across current drinking pattern categories, before propensity-score matching

Variable Ex-drinkersa(n = 986) Occasionalb(n = 552) Moderate volumec (n= 1,194) Higher volumed(n = 480) Heavy occasione(n = 233) Ff
Demographics
 Gender male, % 46.7 33.5 46.3 61.7 78.1 58.53***
 Age, M 58.2 56.4 54.9 58.2 50.3 31.38***
 Ethnicity
  White and other, % 61.3 76.6 78.9 81.5 74.2 46.06***
  Hispanic, % 16.1 10.7 11.1 9.2 14.6 21.95***
  Black, % 22.6 12.7 10.0 9.4 11.2 20.76***
  Married, % 55.7 61.2 62.3 63.3 66.1 4.46***
 Employment
  Employed, % 46.9 60.5 66.2 62.1 71.7 36.49***
  Unemployed, % 19.2 11.1 8.7 7.5 16.3 15.28***
  Retired, % 29.7 22.5 21.5 28.8 11.6 11.66***
  Homemaker, % 4.3 6.0 3.6 1.7 0.4 19.07***
 Religion
  Protestant, % 53.0 50.7 44.5 41.5 36.9 9.54***
  Catholic, % 20.8 29.5 30.8 29.2 32.6 7.60***
  Other religion, % 17.4 12.7 12.2 13.1 12.0 3.34**
  No religion, % 8.7 7.1 12.5 16.3 18.5 12.88***
 Region
  Northeast, % 16.4 20.7 21.1 24.2 15.9 6.29***
  Midwest, % 24.2 30.3 28.1 21.0 31.8 9.69***
  South, % 40.6 31.5 32.2 35.0 30.9 13.77***
  Mountain, % 7.9 9.6 8.2 9.2 7.7 0.41
  Pacific, % 10.9 8.0 10.5 10.6 13.7 1.58
 Born in United States, % 87.1 89.7 89.5 91.7 87.6 23.52***
Socioeconomic resources
 Education
  <High school graduate, % 18.8 7.6 6.3 4.4 12.4 46.04***
  High school graduate, % 33.7 32.8 24.4 18.8 32.6 12.84***
  Some college, % 24.9 25.9 25.3 24.2 27.0 1.75
  College graduate, % 22.6 33.7 44.1 52.7 27.9 53.64***
 Family income
  Below poverty, % 18.6 10.1 7.3 4.6 9.4 39.39***
  1 ×-2× poverty, % 22.9 16.3 11.6 11.9 13.3 13.64***
  2× poverty, % 47.2 60.0 69.1 74.2 68.7 70.01***
  Missing, % 11.4 13.6 12.0 9.4 8.6 7.93***
 Homelessness ever lifetime, % 11.6 6.0 5.7 6.3 13.7 8.54***
 Health insurance
  No coverage, % 13.2 8.2 9.0 7.3 17.6 10.21***
  Public, % 38.1 29.5 24.0 32.3 16.3 19.69***
  Private, % 44.4 58.2 63.5 57.7 63.1 31.08***
Health-related risk factors
 Years of smoking, M 17.8 16.0 15.3 19.1 24.6 41.79***
 No. of cigarettes when smoking, M 9.9 8.9 8.4 10.3 13.4 34.31***
 Marijuana use ever lifetime, % 24.4 29.2 35.5 39.4 50.6 58.15***
 BMI, M 28.1 27.9 27.4 26.2 27.8 9.05***
 CES-D scale, M 4.17 3.56 3.20 3.52 4.66 10.22***
 Current depression, % 20.2 17.2 15.2 11.9 18.9 3.97**
 Chronic depression, % 25.3 17.2 16.2 15.6 20.2 7.20***
 Distress, M 1.28 1.27 1.23 1.25 1.25 4.45***
 Sense of coherence, M 4.17 4.21 4.28 4.30 4.15 5.60***
 Childhood physical abuse, % 21.0 23.7 24.1 24.8 35.6 11.96***
 Childhood sexual abuse, % 10.1 10.1 8.3 6.0 8.6 3.52**
 Alcoholism in parent, % 25.2 22.5 20.9 19.8 30.5 6.14***
 Alcoholism in grandparent, % 9.3 10.9 10.6 8.3 10.7 4.71***
Earlier life heavy drinking pattern
 Never heavy 62.2 68.5 54.0 45.2 9.9 73.37***
 Less heavy 8.4 14.9 22.4 29.0 23.2 31.93***
 Young heavy 11.2 10.1 14.8 10.2 17.6 4.53**
 Heavy 30s 18.3 6.5 8.7 15.6 49.4 80.63***

Notes: BMI = body mass index; CES-D = Center for Epidemiology Studies—Depression scale.

a

Exdrinker = no alcohol during last 12 months;

b

occasional = average volume less than 2 drinks per month;

c

moderate volume = average volume of two to less than 30 drinks per month and never 5+ monthly;

d

higher volume = average volume of 30 or more drinks per month and never 5+ monthly.

e

heavy occasion = 5+ at least monthly;

f

F tests were performed across the 5 categories shown in Table 2, plus the group of lifetime abstainers (shown in Table 1). The exceptions are the variables of earlier life heavy drinking (the last four rows), in which the F tests were performed across the five categories shown in Table 2 without lifetime abstainers.

**

p <.01;

***

p <.001.