The social ecology of lesbians' drinking: Considering the contexts of urban neighborhoods.

摘要

In order to bring a social ecological perspective to the study of lesbians' drinking, this study examined whether drinking patterns varied at the neighborhood- and individual-levels based on three characteristics of lesbians' neighborhoods of residence. A secondary data analysis of 322 self-identified lesbians and their neighborhoods of residence was conducted. US Census data, archival data, and geocoding techniques were used to construct variables at the neighborhood-level. Density of queer institutions, racial/ethnic diversity, and percent of families in poverty were used to differentiate neighborhoods. A cluster analysis and subsequent MANOVA revealed three discrete neighborhood types, Diverse/Dense, White/Low Density, and Non-White/Low Density, with significantly different drinking patterns. Discriminant function analysis showed that drinking at friends' homes and bars contributed most to differences between neighborhood types. Diverse/Dense neighborhoods had patterns of more frequent bar drinking and drinking at friends' homes. There were no differences in drinking at home or hazardous drinking across neighborhood type. At the individual level, the role of neighborhood factors varied depending on the drinking outcome of interest. Neighborhood factors had an effect over and above individual covariates in predicting frequency of drinking at home, frequency of drinking at friends' homes, episodes of heavy episodic drinking, and number of alcohol dependence symptoms.