PROBLEM DRINKING AND LIFE STRESS AMONG OLDER ADULTS

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This project examines the role of life stress and coping resources in excessive drinking among older adults. Why do some older persons develop or resume problem drinking when faced with stressful life circumstances, while others stop drinking or continue to function adequately? How can social resources or coping responses help an older individual overcome or adapt to stressful life situations? What are the social and situational factors that promote or inhibit problem drinking among older adults? We address these issues here by focusing on high-risk older adults (primarily men) drawn from medical and ambulatory care clinics and group living situations, such as urban residential care facilities and single room occupancy (SRO) hotels. Phase I entails the construction and adaptation of semi-structured interview and questionnaire procedures to assess problem drinking, life stress, and social and coping resources among older adults. In Phase II, we use these procedures in a short term prospective study to screen high-risk individuals and to select and follow three groups of demographically matched older persons. One group will be composed of individuals who have begun or resumed problem drinking after experiencing recent stressful life circumstances. The second group will consist of individuals who are in "remission," that is, persons who have had past episodes of problem drinking but who have not "relapsed" even though they have encountered recent stressors. The third group will contain individuals who have never experienced drinking problems and who are coping successfully with recent stressors. The data will be used to characterize drinking habits and to examine the influence of life stressors and coping resources on problem drinking and related indices of functioning among high-risk older adults.