Work stress and alcohol use: Examining the tension-reduction model as a function of worker's parent's alcohol use

Abstract

In an effort to identify groups who may be more vulnerable to tension-reduction drinking [Frone, M. (2003). Predictors of overall and on-the-job substance use among young workers. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 8, 39–54.], we examine whether drinking alcohol in response to work stress varies as a function of whether workers were raised in homes where (a) both parents abstained from alcohol, (b) at least one parent drank nonproblematically, (c) at least one parent drank problematically, or (d) both parents drank problematically. Employees participating in a large, longitudinal study who reported using alcohol in the previous year (N = 895) completed various measures of work stressors, alcohol use, and alcohol problems. We found few mean group differences for either the work stressor or alcohol measures, but we did find a greater number of significant and moderate correlations between work stressors and alcohol for those reporting that both parents drank alcohol problematically. Interestingly, a number of significant correlations were found for those reporting that both parents abstained from alcohol; few were found for the two groups reporting that at least one parent drank with or without alcohol problems. Results are interpreted in light of where and how alcohol expectancies and other coping methods are learned.

Introduction

Despite the fact that it is widely believed that increased alcohol consumption is a common response to work-related stress, empirical tests of this “spillover” or “tension-reduction” model have consistently failed to support a strong relationship (e.g., Cooper et al., 1990, Cooper et al., 1992). Among particular vulnerable subgroups of employees, however, such as those who not only believe that alcohol will help them cope with the work-related distress, but who also have few other coping mechanisms, researchers have found greater support for tension reduction drinking. Continued identification of such subgroups has been emphasized as a fruitful direction for future research (Frone, 1999, Frone, 2003).

In this paper, we examine tension-reduction drinking among a subgroup of employees who we posit may be vulnerable to using alcohol in response to work stress, namely, workers whose parents had alcohol problems. Although much previous research has demonstrated the heightened risks both children of alcoholics (COAs) and adult children of alcoholics (ACAs) face for many indices of poor adjustment (e.g., Black, 1986, Giglio and Kaufman, 1990), there is very little research that has examined occupational functioning per se' (Greenfield, Swartz, Landerman, & George, 1993). The few studies that do exist have failed to find occupationally-related differences between ACAs and nonACAs; however, they have tended to examine mean group differences rather than to treat parental alcohol problems as a variable that moderates the relationship between work stressors and alcohol use or problems. Previous investigations that have examined coping-related differences between ACAs and nonACAs, moreover, speak to the way and degree to which one's occupational functioning could be affected. There is some support for the contention that ACAs may lack coping resources required for dealing with work-related stress, thereby perceiving increased work stress as compared to their nonACA counterparts. They might also model their alcoholic parent's strategies that include avoidance and escape-related tactics (Chalder et al., 2006, Clair and Genest, 1987, Greenfield et al., 1993).

In addition, we explore whether the tension-reduction relationship is stronger among those where both parents are reported to have had alcohol problems. Cumulative risk theory (Coffelt et al., 2006) would predict that having both parents use alcohol problematically, rather than only one parent, places two rather than one risk factor in a child's environment. In addition to heightened genetic vulnerability, there is greater environmental instability in the home and less chance to model useful coping responses when both parents misuse alcohol.