At-Risk Drinking and Workplace Conditions among Latino Day Laborers

Abstract

Background: Latino Day Laborers (LDL) face a variety of factors which have been associated with at-risk drinking. The objective of this study was to assess the association of at-risk drinking with measures of work site conditions. Methods: Data from surveys conducted with 307 LDL in Houston, TX in 2015 were analyzed. Sociodemographic information and measures of exposures to hazardous products at the worksite, adverse working conditions, and work stressors were collected. Measures of positive working climate at the jobsite and a climate that promoted jobsite safety were also included. Participants were administered the Hazardous Use items from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test of Consumption (AUDIT-C). Participants were classified as low-risk or at-risk drinkers based on AUDIT-C score. Logistic regression models were run to assess the associations of the sociodemographic and worksite related variables with drinking status. Results: One-hundred-five (34.2%) participants were classified as at-risk drinkers. At-risk drinking was associated with past-month income, being formerly married (compared to having never married), and lack of housing. At-risk drinking was also associated with measures of a positive working climate and a climate that promoted jobsite safety. Conclusions: One-third of our participants were classified as at-risk drinkers. At-risk drinking was associated with stressors in the form of lack of housing and no longer having a spouse but was also associated with increased income and with positive workplace factors. At-risk drinking was thus a function of both stressors and positive factors, including a positive work site.

Keywords:

• Latino day laborers
• alcohol use
• work conditions
• job safety
• AUDIT/AUDIT-C

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the survey team and the Latino day laborers for their participation in this study and for sharing their experiences.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest concerning the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities, Grant No. 5R24MD0079-02, Dr. Maria Eugenia Fernández-Esquer, Principal Investigator. Research protocols were approved by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (IRB).