What is the relationship between motives for drinking alcohol and coping with wellbeing?

Abstract

Background: Alcohol use is a significant cause of health inequalities and weighs heavily on health services as one of the leading reasons for admission to hospital. Many people often use alcohol to relax, enjoy themselves and cope with day to day life. Studies have been conducted that focus on alcohol as a coping mechanism but many of those studies have related to mental health diagnosis. There are few studies conducted that concentrate on those who use alcohol to manage their wellbeing but do not have a mental health diagnosis. The focus of this study is to understand further the possible reasons people why people may consume alcohol to excess as way to help cope with wellbeing. 

Methods: The data for this study was collected by means of JISC online surveys with a total of 21 participants, followed by four telephone interviews to allow for a mixed methods approach. The questions were focused on the objectives of the project and resulted in collection of quantitative and qualitative data. 

Results: Results indicated that the participants in this study used alcohol to cope with their general wellbeing although only a few of them had a mental health diagnosis, and there did not appear to be a significant difference in alcohol use in those who had a mental health diagnosis with those who did not. Many participants used alcohol to allow them to cope as their mental wellbeing was poor.  

Conclusion: The study provided insight into the link between poor physical and mental health and an association was apparent between these two aspects indicating those who used alcohol to cope with mental health were also likely to use alcohol to cope with physical pain.