Beverage preference, drinking, and social stress in an urban community.

In a survey of 311 residents of an urban community, 238 drinkers were classified by the beverage he or she drank most often. Beer, wine, and liquor drinkers, while differing by age, sex, and social class, did not differ with respect to other social characteristics. Four psychosocial stress factors were regressed on two consumption measures, with a different predictor of heavier drinking found to be significant for each beverage group. These findings in a cross-sectional study of normal drinkers parallel findings of studies of alcoholic and problems drinkers.