Motives for not drinking alcohol: why adults in late middle age abstain

Abstract

Background

Older individuals are not only more sensitive to the impact of alcohol but also face significant health risks from alcohol–drug interactions. To alter current drinking patterns, it is crucial to understand the motives for abstention of adults in late middle age.

Objectives

We hypothesized that, for adults in late middle age, socio-demographic characteristics and health-related factors predict alcohol abstinence; and that current motives for abstention vary between subgroups of abstainers.

Method

Data on adults aged 50–64 years (n = 2,308) came from the German Epidemiological Survey of Substance Abuse (ESA). Logistic regression was used to examine the association between different types of abstinence and socio-demographic and health-related variables.

Results

Low income, low education and poor self-rated physical health predicted 12-month abstinence. Men with a chronic disease had a 9.5 % chance to be abstinent, whilst it was 17.7 % for women. Main motives for older lifetime abstainers were ‘dislike of taste or smell’, ‘loss of control’ and ‘family constraints’. For 12-month abstainers, it was ‘loss of control’, ‘health constraints’ and ‘dislike of taste or smell’.

Conclusion

Poor health in middle-aged drinkers offers an opportunity to recommend reduction or cessation of alcohol use by explaining the negative health effects from alcohol. Future research investigating abstention needs to differentiate between lifetime and 12-month abstainers.

Keywords:

• Alcohol abstinence
• motives for abstention
• reasons for not drinking
• older adults

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

SD, LK, NNS and JA developed the research questions. SD conducted the statistical analysis and wrote a first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The 2018 Epidemiological Survey of Substance Abuse was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Health [grant number AZ: ZMVI1-2517DSM200].