Pain and Alcohol Use among Latinos in Primary Care: Examining Rumination as an Explanatory Factor

ABSTRACT

Background: Alcohol is a widely abused substance among Latinos. Yet, little is known regarding factors underlying hazardous drinking in this population. Growing work has linked pain to hazardous drinking, although highly limited work has focused on Latinos. Objectives: The aim of the current study was to test rumination as an underlying mechanism explaining relations between pain severity and alcohol use among Latinos. Methods: Data from 252 low-income Latino adults (Mage = 38.7 years, SD = 10.8; 86.1% female) attending a community-based primary health care clinic were available. Participants completed measures of pain, rumination, and alcohol use. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the indirect effect of pain severity via rumination on alcohol use. Results: The model displayed good fit to the data. There was a statistically significant indirect effect of pain severity via rumination on alcohol use. Conclusions/Importance: The current findings suggest that rumination may underlie associations of pain and alcohol use among Latinos. Future work in primary care medical settings may benefit from targeting ruminative thinking among Latinos who are experiencing pain to address hazardous drinking.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol
• comorbidity
• health disparity
• pain
• ruminatio
• transdiagnostic

Disclosures

This work has not been presented previously in any form. No authors have any conflicts of interests or financial disclosures to report.

Acknowledgments

The study was approved by Institutional Review Board at the University of Houston. Informed written consent was obtained prior to initiating study procedures. No animals have been employed in this research.