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Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on April 20, 2006
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl023
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Medical Council on Alcohol. All rights reserved
Received May 26, 2005
Revised August 24, 2005
Accepted February 24, 2006

Article

A LITERATURE OVERVIEW OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIFE-EVENTS AND ALCOHOL USE IN THE GENERAL POPULATION

MARJA Y VEENSTRA 1 *, PAUL HHM LEMMENS 2, INGRID HM FRIESEMA 2, HENK FL GARRETSEN 3, J ANDRÉ KNOTTNERUS 4, and PAUL J ZWIETERING 4

1 Addiction Research Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2 Department of Health Care Studies, Division Medical Sociology, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands
3 Addiction Research Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; TRANZO, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands
4 Department of General Practice, Care and Public Health research Institute, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
MARJA Y VEENSTRA, E-mail: m.veenstra{at}zw.unimaas.nl


  Abstract

Aims: A critical review of the evidence of effects of stressful life-events on alcohol use in the general population, with a particular focus on study design. Methods: A literature search in Medline was conducted, covering the period from 1990 to 2005, to identify articles in which the relationship between life-events and alcohol use in the general population (i.e. non-problem drinking population) was investigated. Samples with a limited age range (e.g. college students) were excluded. Twelve studies with a cross-sectional design, and four articles with a longitudinal design were included in this review. Results: Four cross-sectional studies found evidence that experiencing life-events is related to higher alcohol use, three other studies, however, found no such association. The relationship between specific life-events and alcohol use in the five remaining cross-sectional studies is less clear-cut. Being a victim of crime was associated with higher alcohol use, but divorce and financial problems were related to both higher and lower alcohol use. Health-related life-events were found to be associated with lower alcohol use. In studies with a longitudinal design, it was found that health-related life-events and financial problems caused a decrease in alcohol use, and life-events related to spouse, friends and relatives, and retiring led to an increase in alcohol use. Conclusions: Evidence points towards a relationship between the occurrence of life-events and alcohol use in the general population. The direction of the effect is, however, not unequivocal. When life-events are operationalized or categorized separately they are not only related to an increased alcohol use but also to a decreased alcohol use. Specification of the model to be tested, including buffering factors such as gender, social support, coping resources, as well as baseline consumption, is important for a correct estimation of the effect of negative life-events.


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