The proposition that alcohol consumption in older women increases when combined with tobacco smoking is examined in a sample of 2,608 women drawn from the National Longitudinal surveys of Mature Women(NLS). The study identifies a latent structural model of changes with aging in drinking and smoking covariance(DSC)estimated at two time points:1989 and 1997. Women were divided into three 10 year birth cohorts: those in Cohort1 were born between 1916 and 1925, Cohort2 between 1926 and 1935 and Cohort3 between 1936 and 1945. Although there was a tendency for drinking to decline with age in terms of absolute amount, DSC varied significantly depending on the cohort, the time period assessed and marital status with widowed, divorced, separated and never married women having the highest consumption levels in each cohort. Maximum likelihood estimates indicate that in all three cohorts, DSC directly increased alcohol consumption at Time 1 and at Time 2 for Cohort2 and Cohort3. There was a tendency for unmarried women in Cohort3 to report consistently high patterns of DSC at both time periods. In Cohort1 the prevalence of smoking decreased over time, partly due to sample attrition and mortality effects. This report confirms the strong DSC found in clinical and experimental studies. DSC patterns among older women as a population at risk for alcohol misuse therefore deserve serious study because substance use is higher in this group than is commonly thought and is likely to increase as younger cohorts age.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Alcohol Use, Smoking
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.