Socioeconomic Status and Alcohol Use Among Urban and Rural Residents in China

Abstract

The association between socioeconomic status (SES) and current regular alcohol use was examined separately for urban and rural residents of Hubei, China, using the third Chinese National Health Service Survey conducted in 2003. A probability sample of 15,609 respondents, ages 15 through 101 years, was selected from the study base. Alcohol use was a dichotomized variable (current regular users vs. others). Multivariate analyses incorporated four SES indicators: income, education, occupation, and house size. Investigation of status discrepancy indicated that income was positively associated with the likelihood of current regular alcohol use, whereas education was negatively associated. For both urban and rural residents, likelihood of current regular alcohol use was smallest for those in the highest education and lowest income category. Further research, which factors in quantity and frequency, is needed to understand how alcohol use among Chinese urban and rural populations impacts their health.

Keywords:

• socioeconomic status (SES)
• alcohol use
• urban residents
• rural residents
• China

Notes

* The journal's style utilizes the category substance abuse as a diagnostic category. Substances are used or misused; living organisms are and can be abused. Editor's note.

^† Parents served as a proxy for those infants and children that were selected.

^‡ In China, semiliterate is defined as individuals who had no formal education or had less than a primary school education (i.e., had not completed primary school).

^†† One U.S. dollar ($) is equivalent to 8 Chinese yuan (Y=) in 2005.