STRESS, RELIGIOSITY, AND ABSTINENCE FROM ALCOHOL

The purpose of this study was to test a conceptual model that attempts to identify psychosocial factors associated with the avoidance of alcohol in later life. This model is based on the life stress literature. Although most researchers maintain that life events are associated with greater alcohol consumption, a basic premise of this study is that certain stressors may be related to abstinence from alcohol in later life. In examining this relationship, the effects of a potentially important coping resource (religiosity) were also considered. Findings from a nationwide survey suggest that although greater health problems are associated with a greater probability that elderly people will abstain from using alcohol, financial difficulties had the opposite effect and were instead related to a lesser probability that older adults would avoid drinking alcoholic beverages. Finally, gender and race were found to exert important effects throughout the model.