Environmental Influences on Alcohol Consumption Practices of Alcoholic Beverage Servers

Abstract

Public drinking establishments have long been associated with heavy drinking among both their patrons and servers. Whether these environments represent locations where heavy drinking is learned (learning hypothesis) or simply places where already-heavy drinkers gather in a supportive environment (selection hypothesis) remains an important question. A sample of licensed alcoholic beverage servers in the state of Indiana, USA, was surveyed to better understand the drinking behaviors of servers within the alcohol service industry. Responses (N=938) to a mailed questionnaire were analyzed to assess the relative influence of environmental and demographic factors on the drinking behavior of servers. Stepwise regression revealed “drinking on the job” as the most influential environmental factor on heavy drinking behaviors, followed by age and gender as influential demographic factors. Support was found for the selection hypothesis, but not for the learning hypothesis. Policy implications are discussed.

• Alcohol consumption
• Bartender
• Environment
• Intoxication
• Occupation
• Servers

Notes

^*The fact that the percentage of heavy drinkers among our respondents was measured by the average number of drinks consumed at one setting per month rather than the number of times 5 or more drinks were consumed per month, suggests our measure is a comparative underestimate.