WORK RETIREMENT AND DRINKING AMONG BLUE COLLAR WORKERS

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The proposed study grows out of our current NIAAA-funded research on work-related risk factors and drinking and drinking behavior among employed blue-collar workers and extends that research by examining the risk factors associated with the work disengagement process among blue collar workers eligible for retirement. The need for such research and its prevent implications have become evident to us in our current research. We propose to examine how different levels of social isolation (i.e., depth and breadth of social support or lack thereof), social control (loss of [or relief from] work-based systems or rules governing drinking), stress (e.g., financial insecurity, role underload, marital strain), and social marginalization (e.g., role confusion, lowered self- efficacy, loss of self-esteem) experienced during the retirement process impact drinking behavior. Such information is necessary so that unions and others can develop and implement effective prevention and intervention strategies for assisting retirees with alcohol problems. Because research in this area is sparse, the proposed research both generates and test theory. Using qualitative data collected from workers in blue-collar occupations, we will delineate the specific ways in which isolation, social control, stress and social marginalization (as well as other risk factors uncovered by the qualitative analysis) impact drinking behavior. Based on the qualitative data, a self-report survey will be developed and data will then be collected from retirement- eligible workers in blue-collar occupations at three points in time (approximately six months before the date of retirement eligibility, and then six and eighteen months after that date). These survey data will be analyzed using linear structural equation techniques to test the plausibility of alternative models of retirement-related variables and alcohol abuse.