‘I have no interest in drinking’: a cross-national comparison of reasons why men and women abstain from alcohol use
Research article
Abstract
Aims
To examine country differences in reasons for abstaining including the association of reasons with country abstaining rate and alcohol consumption pattern.
Participants
Samples of men and women from eight countries participating in the GENACIS (Gender Alcohol and Culture: an International Study) project.
Methods
Surveys were conducted with 3338 life-time abstainers and 3105 former alcohol users. Respondents selected all applicable reasons for not using alcohol from a provided list. Analyses included two-level hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) regression.
Findings
Reasons for abstaining differed significantly for life-time abstainers compared to former alcohol users, by gender and age, and by country-level abstaining rate and frequency of alcohol consumption.
Life-time abstainers were more likely than former alcohol users to endorse ‘no interest’, ‘religion’ and ‘upbringing’ and more reasons overall.
Gender differences, especially among former alcohol users, suggested that norms restricting alcohol use may influence reasons that women abstain (‘no interest’, ‘not liking taste’) while alcohol use experiences may be more important considerations for men (‘afraid of alcohol problems’, ‘bad effect on activities’).
Younger age was associated with normative reasons (‘no interest’, ‘taste’, ‘waste of money’) and possibly bad experiences (‘afraid of problems’).
Reasons such as ‘religion’, ‘waste of money’ and ‘afraid of alcohol problems’ were associated with higher country-level rates of abstaining.
Higher endorsement of ‘alcohol use is bad for health’ and ‘taste’ were associated with a country pattern of less frequent alcohol consumption while ‘not liking effects’ was associated with higher alcohol use frequency.
Conclusions
Reasons for abstaining depend on type of abstainer, gender, age and country alcohol consumption norms and patterns.
