NCJ Number
138076
Journal
British Journal of Addiction Volume: 87 Dated: (1992) Pages: 703-714
Date Published
1992
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study of alcohol consumption among unemployed Swedish youth found a positive correlation between unemployment and alcohol consumption.
Abstract
The study was conducted between 1981 and 1986 in the municipality of Lulea, an industrial town in northern Sweden, where unemployment has been endemic for a long time. All the 1,083 pupils in the last year of compulsory school in 1981 were included in the study. The first survey was conducted shortly before the pupils left school in the spring of 1981. All the pupils were contacted again 2 years later and then again after 5 years, when they were 21 years old. All pupils completed a comprehensive self-administered questionnaire that included questions on alcohol habits. There were also questions on employment, status, education, migration, and social background factors. The study found a clear correlation between unemployment and alcohol consumption among both men and women. The longer the duration of unemployment, the higher the consumption of alcohol at the end of the study; however, short- term unemployment, defined as unemployment less than 20 weeks during the 5-year observation period, was not apparently related to alcohol consumption. 5 tables, 24 references, and the questionnaire