Exploring the interplay between social support and alcohol consumption

我们知道，饮酒与社会关系之间的关系，例如与朋友、亲戚、伴侣和其他人之间的关系可能是复杂的。现有的关于社会支持和酒精之间关系的研究往往只关注社会支持的一个要素(例如，结婚或感到孤独)。然而，我们知道，一个人可能有几种不同类型的关系(例如，伴侣、朋友、家人、支持团体、宗教团体等)。不同的人可能会提供不同类型的支持，这可能会导致这个人或多或少地饮酒。通过这项研究，我们旨在探索社会关系的哪些方面导致不同程度的饮酒，以及心理健康是否在这种关系中发挥作用。这项研究将涉及两项国家队列研究的分析，使用多项Logistic回归分析和结构方程模型来探索哪些方面的社会支持与饮酒有关。这一定量分析的结果将与一项定性研究的结果相结合，该研究将使用专题分析来探讨获得酒精治疗服务的人在社会支持和酒精消费方面的经历。我们希望更好地了解社会关系和饮酒之间的联系，将有助于改善未来关于饮酒的公共卫生信息，例如，通过促进鼓励不饮酒或少饮酒的社交活动，以及2)帮助支持饮酒服务，通过强调社会关系在饮酒和获得酒精治疗方面的重要性来实现改善。

We know that the relationship between drinking alcohol and social relationships, for example with friends, relatives, partners and others can be complex. Existing research into the relationship between social support and alcohol has tended to focus on just one element of social support (for example, being married or feeling lonely). However, we know that one person could have several different types of relationship (e.g. partner, friends, family, support groups, religious groups etc.) and different people might offer different types of support, which may contribute to that person drinking more or less alcohol. With this study, we aim to explore which aspects of social relationships contribute to different levels of alcohol consumption and whether mental health plays a role in this relationship. This study will involve the analysis of two national cohort studies, using multinomial logistic regression analyses and structural equation modelling to explore which aspects of social support are associated with drinking alcohol. Findings of this quantitative analysis will be combined with the findings of a qualitative study, which will use thematic analysis to explore the experiences of people who are accessing alcohol treatment services in relation to social support and alcohol consumption . We hope that having a better understanding of the connection between social relationships and drinking alcohol will 1) help improve future public health messages about alcohol consumption, for example, by promoting activities which encourage social interactions without alcohol or with less alcohol, and 2) help to support alcohol services make improvements by highlighting the importance of social relationships in both drinking alcohol and accessing alcohol treatment.