Social attributes, problem drinking and alcoholism treatment contacts. Labeling versus social etiology.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the overrepresentation of persons of low socioeconomic status in publicly funded alcoholism treatment facilities: the social etiology hypothesis assumes that drinking problems are more prevalent among persons of low social status; the label-avoidance hypothesis assumes that persons of high social status are often able to avoid being labeled as alcoholics. To test these hypotheses 195 problem drinkers identified by knowledgeable community members, public records or scores on the Preoccupation with Alcohol Scale were classified as contacted (55) or uncontacted (140) depending on whether or not they appeared at the only publicly funded alcoholism treatment facility then available in their community. Their social attributes (e.g., income, education, occupational status) and problem-drinking severity (by scores on the Alcoholism Stages Index) were compared and multiple regression analyses were performed to determine relationships between these variables and public treatment contact. Although the groups differed significantly on several variables, the data did not provide unequivocal support for either the social etiology or the label-advoidance hypothesis. Apparently both theories have some validity, but neither is sufficient to explain the complex relationship between social attributes, problem-drinking severity and public treatment contact.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: