Community characteristics and substance-free activity and service access predict membership in alcohol use disorder risk profiles.

OBJECTIVE

Community characteristics (e.g., alcohol access, poverty) are associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD) at the population level, and person-level AUD severity indicators (e.g., drinking practices, problems) predict heterogeneity in individual AUD risk profiles and recovery outcomes. Guided by behavioral economic theory, this study investigated whether residing in relatively enriched communities with substance-free reward sources, greater health/behavioral health care access, lower alcohol access, and less poverty were associated with less risky individual AUD risk profiles.

METHOD

This secondary analysis combined an integrated data set of individual natural recovery attempts with zip code community characteristics obtained from public data sources. Four AUD latent risk profiles, previously derived from individual problem severity indicators that predicted 1-year recovery outcomes, were predicted by zip code-level substance-free reward sources, alcohol access, health/behavioral health care access, and poverty surrounding AUD recovery ( = 528).

RESULTS

As hypothesized, multinomial regression analyses indicated that greater community access to substance-free reward sources (educational services, religious organizations, sports/fitness/recreation programs, fresh food) and lower community poverty were associated with lower AUD risk profiles compared with higher AUD risk profiles. This pattern was most pronounced in comparisons between a global lower risk profile and a higher risk profile characterized by high alcohol dependence and alcohol-related psychosocial problems. Alcohol access and health care access did not differentiate profile membership.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that community characteristics contribute to heterogeneity in individual drinking problem development, and community enrichment may offer a promising approach to AUD prevention and promotion of positive recovery outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).