Alcohol abstention among older adults: Reasons for abstaining and characteristics of abstainers

Abstract

Analyses of a survey of 826 persons aged 65 and older identified three groups of respondents who consumed no alcohol during the previous 12 months: lifetime abstainers, infrequent drinkers, and former drinkers. The three groups differed significantly in endorsement of various reasons for abstaining. When the three groups of abstainers were compared to each other, to infrequent drinkers and to other current drinkers on demographic and psychosocial variables, it was found that lifetime abstainers and infrequent drinkers who abstained during the previous 12 months tended to be older, less educated and more religious than former and current drinkers. Current drinkers were more likely than all groups of abstainers to own their own home, had larger social networks and engaged in more social activities. Former drinkers reported more stress, greater depression, and lower sense of coherence than current drinkers and other types of abstainers. These results demonstrate the importance of distinguishing different types of abstainers, since the conclusions regarding differences between drinkers and nondrinkers are likely to depend on the relative proportions of each type of abstainer in the sample.