The influence of drinkers on alcohol preferences and habits, as well as on the quality of life of representatives of their microsocial environment

Abstract

The purpose of the work is to study the influence of drinkers on alcohol prefe- rences and habits, as well as on the quality of life (QoL) of representatives of their microsocial environment. 1572 people were examined, who belonged to two groups: group I — 329 patients with alcohol dependence (AD); group II — healthy respondents (1243 people). Each of these contingents was divided into comparison groups based on the presence or absence of drinkers in the environment (DIE). The main research instruments were the questionnaire of the interna- tional research consortium GENAHTO (Gender, Alcohol, and Harms to Others), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). The obtai- ned data were processed by methods of mathe matical statistics (variance and correlation analysis). It was found that the presence of DIE in all surveyed respondents increases sub- jectively acceptable levels of alcohol con- sumption (АС) in typical life situations and worsens self-assessment of QoL. It has been shown that the stage of domestic drunkenness is characterized by a much greater dependence of the severity of al- coholic disorders (according to the AUDIT test) on the characteristics of alcoholic behavior than the stage AD. All surveyed respondents showed significant correla- tions between the results of the AUDIT test and the following features of alcohol behavior: АС alone, in one’s own home and while eating, indicating the patho- genic role of the loss of social ties and the integration of alcohol habits into the process of satisfying basic human needs.