American Journal of Epidemiology 2007 165(2):184-193;ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Socioeconomic and Psychosocial Exposures across the Life Course and Binge Drinking in Adulthood: Population-based Study
Seungmi Yang1,
John W. Lynch1,
Trivellore E. Raghunathan2,3,
Jussi Kauhanen4,
Jukka T. Salonen4,5,6 and
George A. Kaplan2
1 Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2 Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
3 Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
4 Department of Public Health, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland
5 Research Institute of Public Health, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland6 Oy Jurilab, Ltd., Kuopio, Finland
Correspondence to Dr. John Lynch, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, 1020 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A2, Canada (e-mail: john.lynch@mcgill.ca
Despite recognition of the health risks of binge drinking, its life-course precursors have not been widely examined.
Data from the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (1984–1989) were used to investigate the association between socioeconomic and psychosocial exposures across the life course and binge drinking in a population-based sample of 2,316 middle-aged men.
Binge drinking was defined as drinking at least four bottles of beer, one bottle of wine, one bottle of strong wine, or six servings of spirits on a single occasion.
A composite indicator of childhood socioeconomic position was based on parental education, occupation, and number of rooms and divided into tertiles.
Low childhood socioeconomic position increased the odds of binge drinking (odds ratio = 1.70, 95% confidence interval: 1.26, 2.31) when other early life exposures were adjusted. Additional adjustment of adult socioeconomic and psychosocial factors attenuated the odds of bingeing associated with low childhood socioeconomic position (odds ratio = 1.29, 95% confidence interval: 0.93, 1.79).
Adult socioeconomic conditions, marital status, hostility, and organizational membership were independently associated with bingeing.
This study shows that both early and later life characteristics including socioeconomic conditions and adult psychosocial factors contribute to adult binge drinking in this population, but the effects of adult characteristics are stronger.
