Hangover Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Hangover, including details on alcohol, treatment, drugs, effects. | ||||||||
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Stress and alcohol consumption in heavily drinking men: 2 years of daily data using interactive voice response.Helzer JE, Badger GJ, Searles JS, Rose GL, Mongeon JA College of Medicine, Health Behavior Research Center, University of Vermont, South Burlington, Vermont 05403, USA. John.Helzer@vtmednet.org BACKGROUND: The relationship between stress and alcohol consumption has been shown in recent research to be more complex than originally thought. Cross-sectional and short-term longitudinal studies may not provide adequate data to address subtle but important relationships that impact consumption frequency and/or quantity. METHODS: Participants were 33 males recruited from local bars who reported their alcohol consumption, stress, and other related variables every day for 2 years. Reports were provided by automated telephone to a computer-based interactive voice response (IVR) system. By closely monitoring call completion, we were able to collect over 95% of the daily calls. RESULTS: Using hierarchical linear modeling, daily stress was found to be associated with daily alcohol consumption, but in the opposite direction than would be predicted by a "drinking to cope" hypothesis. That is, same-day stress was found to be inversely related to consumption levels. Prior day's stress was not significantly associated with subsequent day's consumption; however, prior day's consumption was predictive of subsequent stress for up to 2 days. Similar analyses using week, rather than day, as the unit of measure paralleled these findings. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the utility of using long-term daily process data to address important research and clinical questions in the alcohol field. Published 25 April 2006 in Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 30(5): 802-11.
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