Perceived mental health, work, and life stress in association with the amount of weekly alcohol consumption among Canadian adults who have ever drank.

BACKGROUND

Excess alcohol consumption has multifaceted adverse impacts at individual, household, and community levels. The study primarily aims at assessing the role of perceived health and stress in alcohol consumption among adults in Canada who have ever drank.

METHODS

The study was conducted based on a total of 35,928 Canadian adults aged 18 and above who have ever drank, extracted from the 2017-2018 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) data. A mixed-effect Negative Binomial (NB) regression model was used to determine the effects of three key risk factors (perceived mental health, life stress, and work stress) in association with the self-reported number of weekly alcohol consumption, controlling for other variables in the model.

RESULTS

The study found that regular alcohol consumption among ever drank Canadian adults is high, with the self-reported number of weekly alcohol consumption ranging from 0 to 210. The results of adjusted mixed-effect NB regression showed that the expected mean of alcohol consumption was significantly higher among those with a poorer perception of mental health, higher perceived work, and life stress. Nonsmokers have a much lower mean score of alcohol consumption compared to those who smoke daily. There was a significant interaction between racial background and the three key predictors (perceived mental health, life stress, and work stress).

CONCLUSION

Given the reported perceived health and stress significantly impacts alcohol consumption, the findings suggested improving individual/group counseling, and health education focusing on home and work environment to prevent and manage life stressors and drivers to make significant program impacts.