Why people do not drink: a study of teetotalers

Patterns of alcohol consumption and psychiatric disorders among Ontario adults

This study examined the relationship between patterns of alcohol consumption, including problem drinking, and psychiatric disorders in the general population. The paper utilizes data on 8,116 adults age 15–64 living in households who were interviewed for the Ontario Health Survey and the Mental Health Supplement. The University of Michigan Composite International Diagnostic Interview (UM-CIDI) was administered by trained lay interviewers to generate lifetime DSM-III-R diagnoses. Unlike previous studies, the results of this study provided no evidence of a U-shaped or J-shaped curve or relationship between alcohol use and mental health. Lifetime abstainers had the lowest risks for all mental disorders examined, while former at-risk drinkers (those who had not had a drink in the previous year but at one time regularly drank more than 12 drinks a week) had the highest risks, even after adjustment for age and gender.

Why teetotallers abstain

Drinking practices and attitudes to alcohol among the members of a Southampton church were investigated by questionnaire (602 subjects) and by interviews (126 subjects). Teetotallers were older than drinkers, and included a higher proportion of women. They perceived their childhood upbringing and the teaching of the Bible as the main factors influencing them to abstain. Both teetotallism and alcoholism were more common among relatives of teetotallers than among relatives of social drinkers.

Abstinence from alcohol: some implications for epidemiology of alcohol problems

This study examines the utility of abstinence from alcohol use for epidemiological estimations of alcohol problems and characteristics of those who report total abstinence. The data are derived from a national probability sample of adults (18 years of age and older). The results indicate that proportionate abstinence at the regional level shows very strong negative relationships with estimated alcoholism rates and per capita alcohol consumption. Although all the attributes of respondents examined are found to be statistically significant, the three most significant predictors of abstinence are religious attendance, family income, and geographic region. The epidemiological implications for estimating alcohol problems from abstinence data are discussed.