Drinking Patterns of an Occupational Group: Domestic Servants

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Abstract
Interviews were held with 99 women employed as domestic servants and with 117 women employing domestics. There were 77 matched employee-employer combina-tions. Findings of this exploratory study, restricted to a single community, suggest that certain factors related to the occupation of domestic service may result in a higher incidence of drinking, more frequent drinking, and greater use of distilled beverages than among the general population. Although drinking does not appear to constitute a problem for members of the sample sur-veyed, it cannot be concluded that the occupation does not produce its share of pathological drinkers. It is suggested instead that due to the nature of the employment, the excessive drinker is quickly detected and eliminated from the occupational group. The incidence and frequency of drinking and the type of beverage chosen may in part reflect an attempt to compensate for factors of the occupation which tend to preclude normal social participation and adjustment. These may also be associated with similar drink-ing patterns on the part of employers; the factor of imitation al-though not explicit in the data is implied.

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