Unemployment, sociodemographic background and consumption of alcohol before and during the economic recession of the 1990s in Finland.

BACKGROUND Some studies suggest that people's alcohol consumption increases during unemployment whereas others suggest the opposite. All studies, however, deal with situations marked by relatively low national unemployment rates. We studied alcohol use among individuals in relation to unemployment, education, marital status and sex during times of both low and high unemployment in Finland. METHODS A group of 44391 respondents, aged 18-64 years, from nationally representative, consecutive annual samples of 5000 people from 1982 to 1995 was utilized. Overall response rate for men was 77% and for women 80%. RESULTS Univariate analyses indicated that unemployment was associated with the amount of reported alcohol use. However, when logistic regression was used to analyse interactions between alcohol consumption, unemployment, education and marital status, the picture changed. During a low unemployment period (e.g. 1982-1990), being unemployed was not associated with the upper consumption level of alcohol use (defined as > or = 8 drinks/week for men, > or = 5 for women); nor was it during a high unemployment period (1991-1995), except among single people. During a high unemployment period poorly educated, single, unemployed men (odds ratio [OR] = 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] : 1.1-2.4), showed a significantly higher risk of upper level of alcohol consumption than otherwise similar but employed men (OR = 0.8, 95% CI: 0.6-1.0). The reference group consisted of highly educated, married, employed men who did not exceed the upper drinking limit. Similarly, the risk of upper consumption level drinking was significantly higher among highly educated, unemployed single women (OR = 2.4, 95% CI: 1.388-4.3) than among otherwise similar but employed women (OR = 1.1, 95% CI: 1.0-1.386). CONCLUSION Thus, unemployment was weakly but significantly related to the upper consumption level of alcohol use among single people during the recession but not in the preceding period of economic growth.