Douglas A. Parker

Alcohol Use and Cognitive Loss among Employed Men and Women

A representative sample of 1,367 employed men and women in Detroit responded to questions about their drinking practices and then completed a cognitive test which measures abstraction abilities. Abstraction, tested while respondents were sober, decreased significantly as reported quantity of alcohol usually consumed per drinking occasion increased. (Am J Public Health 1983; 73:521-526.)

Sex roles and alcohol consumption: a research note

Inconsistencies in the role sets of women in modern societies are believed by some to account for the difference in rates of mental illness between men and women. In an analysis of rates of neurotic disorders and functional psychoses, Gove (1972) found that the higher rates of mental illness for women, compared to those of men, were due to disproportionately high rates among married women. Gove and Tudor (1973) maintain that the reason for this is that married women are more likely to occupy conflicting role sets. They contend that the role of the housewife involves unskilled labor and low status, both of which are often not consonant with a womans intellectual attainment. In addition, they argue that the married woman who works outside the home occupies a conflicting role set when her employment involves discrimination in the job market and assignment to positions that are not commensurate with her educational background. Gove and Tudor constructed their roleconflict model to explain mental health differences between women and men, but others have questioned this application. A persistent criticism has been that such between-gender

Alcohol, other drugs, and sexual risk-taking among young adults.

Recent studies based on small convenience samples of men and women have found the use of alcohol and other drugs to be associated with unprotected sexual intercourse that places women at elevated risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy. An analysis of data from a representative sample of 12,069 younger adults indicates that the use of alcohol and other drugs is related to sexual risk-taking among both men and women after controlling for age, education, family income, and other variables.

Alcoholic beverage type, recall period effects and functional disability: evidence from the 1983 NHIS

To replicate a Canada Health Survey (CHS) study that found beer drinking was associated with lower morbidity, National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data for 19,462 persons were used to examine associations between functional disability and beverage specific ethanol consumption. A functional disability index consisting of morbidity and symptom coping events reported for 2 weeks prior to the NHIS interview was constructed. Alcohol consumption was reported for the same period as disability (coincident recall), or for the 2 weeks prior to the respondents last drink during the past year (antecedent recall). The analysis controlled for confounders using direct standardization and multiple logistic regression. The results of this investigation were not consistent with the CHS study. Former drinkers and antecedent recall drinkers reported greater disability rates than either non-drinkers or coincident recall drinkers. Antecedent recall drinkers exhibiting a preference for beer and wine were, respectively, 40 and 80 percent more likely to be disabled than non-drinkers. Further, this study found no evidence of a protective effect among any subgroup of drinkers. The finding of a significant interaction between alcohol consumption and alcohol recall period suggests that epidemiologic studies should give greater attention to the classification of drinker groups by proximity of alcohol consumption.

The Poverty of Health Data on the Aged in the 1980 Census

Excerpt The United States today has an estimated 24 and one-half million persons 65 years of age and older and expects to have 30 and one-half million in the year 2000. To provide medical care to t...