Racial and ethnic minorities often suffer from poorer health than Whites given their exposure to more stressors and fewer resources that buffer the effects of stress. Given that alcohol is often consumed to alleviate the negative moods, authors hypothesized that psychological distress may impact the involvement in binge drinking differently across racial and ethnic groups.

Using data from California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) from 2007 to 2012 for 130,556 diverse adults, authors found that psychological distress was significantly associated with binge drinking across all racial and ethnic groups. However, the association differed by race and ethnicity adjusting for age, gender, marital status, education, poverty, and employment status. The results revealed that psychological distress had the largest effect on binge drinking for Asian Americans, particularly Filipinos and South Asians, compared to Whites.  

Publication Authors:

• Bongki Woo
• et al