Associations between unemployment and heavy episodic drinking from adolescence to midlife in Sweden and Finland

• BackgroundUnemployment and alcohol use have often been found to correlate and to act as risk factors for each other. However, only few studies have examined these associations at longitudinal settings extending over several life phases. Moreover, previous studies have mostly used total consumption or medical diagnoses as the indicator, whereas subclinical measures of harmful alcohol use, such as heavy episodic drinking (HED), have been used rarely. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between HED and unemployment from adolescence to midlife in two Nordic countries.MethodsParticipants of separate cohort studies from Sweden and Finland were recruited at age 16 in 1981/1983 and followed up at ages 21/22, 30/32 and 43/42, (n = 1080/2194), respectively. Cross-lagged autoregressive models were used to determine associations between HED and unemployment.ResultsIn the Swedish cohort, HED at ages 16 and 30 in men and HED at age 21 in women were associated with subsequent unemployment. In the Finnish cohort, we found corresponding associations at age 16 in women and at age 22 in men. However, the gender differences were not statistically significant. The associations from unemployment to HED were non-significant in both genders, in both cohorts and at all ages.ConclusionsOur results suggest that heavy drinkers are more likely to experience unemployment in subsequent years. The associations from HED to unemployment seem to exist through the life course from adolescence to midlife. More emphasis should be put on reducing alcohol related harms in order to improve labour-market outcomes.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

unemployment

alcohol

Social Medicine

Socialmedicin

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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