Alcohol Consumption Levels of the Elderly

This paper proposes research aimed at determining the alcohol consumption levels of a sample of females ages 65 through 76. Further, the research will examine whether consumption levels are systematically associated with differences in females' marital status, age, educational level, or yearly income.

The rationale for the study is based on the fact that existing research indicates that the degree of alcoholism in elderly populations may be under-estimated due to older alcoholics tendencies to lie about the problem, the failure of assessment instruments to adequately detect older drinkers, and the tendency on the part of physicians not to refer this population to treatment. These facts highlight the need for repeated assessment of drinking patterns in older populations.

Demographic factors are selected for exploration because current research supports the notion that among older people, alcohol abuse and dependence tends to be related to their circumstances, e.g. living on a fixed income, married, etc.

Thus, it seems reasonable to explore these factors for their contribution to the levels of alcohol consumption found in sample subjects. The study is restricted to females because research indicates that elderly women tend to be more prone to lie about drinking and may, therefore, may comprise a substantial portion of the elderly population that lie about their drinking behavior

. . .
e associated with lower levels of all disorders including alcoholism. Age distribution data did not reflect expectations of greater prevalence of disorders among the elderly, but instead demonstrated that lifetime prevalence was generally lowest in people over 65 years of age. Regarding alcoholics, it must be noted that this lowered prevalence rate for life-time dependency could well be due to death associated with health problems arising from drinking alcohol over the entire life-span. Booth, Blow, Cook and Bunn (1992) examined issues relative to age, race/ethnicity, and marital status for a sample of 62,829 alcoholic male Veteran Administration inpatients (1) completing alcoholism treatment, (2) participating in brief alcohol detoxification or short intervention, or (3) hospitalized for primary diagnoses other than alcoholism but with a secondary diagnosis of alcohol dependence syndrome. Findings revealed that: (1) Minority alcoholics were significantly younger than Caucasian alcoholics. (2) Hispanic and African-American men, as well as older alcoholics, were significantly less likely to complete treatment or attend detoxification and were more likely to be hospitalized for other primary diagnoses. (3) Native American
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Approximate Word count = 9619
Approximate Pages = 38 (250 words per page)

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