School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
College of Economics & Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 13;19(10):5924. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19105924.
Existing studies have explored the causal effect of social capital on harmful drinking, while the effect of drinking habits on trust is scant. In China, drinking rituals and drinking culture are considered important ways of promoting social interaction and trust, especially in rural areas where traditional culture is stronger. Based on a field survey in rural China in 2019, this paper explores the relationship between drinking habits and trust. First, we found a negative relationship between drinking habits and trust, indicating that those people who drink alcohol are more likely to have a lower trust. Second, we found significant heterogeneity in the effect of alcohol consumption on social trust across various groups. Specifically, the negative effects of alcohol consumption on trust were stronger for the females than for males; drinking alcohol did not reduce the level of trust among the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in rural China; compared with the Han nationality, we found that the effect of drinking on trust was not significant for the ethnic minority. Third, we observed that the negative effects of alcohol consumption on trust had thresholds across age and income. Among people under 51, the risk of trust from drinking was greater than for those over 51; the negative effect of drinking on residents' trust was more obvious in low-income families, but not significant in the group with an annual household income of more than CNY 40,000. Our empirical study provides a deeper understanding of drinking culture in rural China from a dialectical perspective.
现有研究探讨了社会资本对有害饮酒的因果影响，而饮酒习惯对信任的影响却很少。在中国，饮酒仪式和饮酒文化被视为促进社会互动和信任的重要方式，尤其是在传统文化较强的农村地区。本文基于 2019 年在中国农村进行的实地调查，探讨了饮酒习惯与信任之间的关系。首先，我们发现饮酒习惯与信任之间存在负相关关系，这表明那些饮酒的人更有可能信任度较低。其次，我们发现，饮酒对社会信任的影响在不同群体之间存在显著的异质性。具体来说，饮酒对信任的负面影响在女性中比男性更强；饮酒并没有降低中国农村共产党（CCP）成员的信任水平；与汉族相比，我们发现饮酒对少数民族的信任影响不显著。第三，我们观察到饮酒对信任的负面影响在年龄和收入方面存在门槛。在 51 岁以下的人群中，饮酒导致信任风险大于 51 岁以上的人群；饮酒对居民信任的负面影响在低收入家庭中更为明显，但在年收入超过 4 万元的家庭中并不显著。我们的实证研究从辩证的角度深入了解了中国农村的饮酒文化。
