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Predictors of Reduction and Cessation of Drinking in Community-Dwelling Men: Results from the Normative Aging Study
John A. Hermos, Joseph S. LoCastro, Robert J. Glynn, Glen R. Bouchard, Lorraine O. De Labry
As part of a longitudinal study of health and aging, the conditions and motivational factors that prospectively predicted either cessation or reduction in alcohol consumption were compared. Data were from 1,517 community-dwelling men who in 1973 (Time 1) and 1982 (Time 2) completed mailed questionnaires about their drinking behaviors. Time 2 quitters ( n = 62) had consumed no alcohol for at least the 6 months before that survey; reducers ( n = 255) had decreased their yearly alcohol consumption by at least one-half. Compared to 971 controls, quitters reported more drinking problems at Time 1; reducers reported higher consumption at Time 1, which was the only factor predictive of subsequent reduction ( p < .001). Regression analyses considering contextual - motivational factors for drinking showed that at Time 1 quitters were less likely than controls to have consumed alcohol during evenings out ( p = .008), in family-home settings ( p = .013), or for salutary reasons ( p = .084); conversely, they were more likely to have consumed alcohol to reduce negative affect (p = .011). Reducers cited more social - situational reasons for curtailing drinking; quitters cited more personal reasons related to health and alcohol effects. These findings indicate that in a community sample of men, problematic drinking behaviors tend to predict subsequent abstention rather than reduced drinking.
