Social functioning and psychiatric status of lifetime abstainers.

摘要

This dissertation investigates the relationship of lifetime abstention from alcohol with social functioning and psychiatric status. Interpersonal, financial, and sociability functioning, as well as, decline are tested among the abstainers compared to drinkers. Mental functioning and decline are also tested among the abstainers, using three psychiatric variables. This dissertation is both cross-sectional and longitudinal in design with the social and mental functioning measures being tested at two intervals: functioning at time one and decline at time two, among those who reported positive functioning at first measurement. The data for this analysis come from the second and third waves of community interviews in the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Project at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Using a sample of 3106 respondents, this study addresses the following research questions: (1) How do abstainers compare to drinkers in terms of cross-sectional social functioning? (2) Among the respondents who reported positive social functioning at first measurement, are abstainers more likely than drinkers to report prospective decline during the course of this study? (3) Are abstainers more likely than drinkers to report episodes of selected psychiatric disorders (within the past six months)? (4) Among the respondents who did not report a recent psychiatric disorder at first measurement, are abstainers more likely than drinkers to report an episode during the course of this study?;The results indicate that, even when controlling for sociodemographics, abstainers are more likely than drinkers to report social dysfunction, as well as, social decline. Psychiatric status does not vary by abstinence. The relationship of lifetime abstention with social and mental functioning varies by subgroups. The subgroups of abstainers in which abstinence is common behavior function relatively better than the subgroups in which abstinence is uncommon.