Abstract
Background: An extensive public health literature associates military service with increased alcohol consumption and problematic drinking. However, few well-controlled population-based studies compare alcohol use among nonveterans and veterans with diverse military service experiences, and no such study examines everyday drinking. Methods: We use population-representative data from the 2010 and 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and distinguish four groups of men: nonveterans; non-combat veterans without a psychiatric disorder (PD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI); combat veterans without a PD or TBI; and veterans (non-combat and combat combined) with a PD and/or TBI. We estimate hierarchical multivariate logistic regression models of current drinking (N = 21,947) and daily drinking (among current drinkers; N = 11,491). Results from supplemental analyses are discussed. Results: Relative to nonveterans, non-combat veterans with no PD or TBI and veterans with a PD and/or TBI, respectively, but not combat veterans with no PD or TBI, are more likely to be current drinkers. Among current drinkers, non-combat and combat veterans with no PD or TBI, respectively, are less likely than nonveterans to be daily drinkers. Conversely, among current drinkers, veterans with a PD and/or TBI are more likely to be daily drinkers than nonveterans, non-combat veterans with no PD or TBI, and combat veterans with no PD or TBI. Conclusion: We document heterogeneous and countervailing influences of military service experiences on current and daily drinking. Results indicate that harmful military service experience may be associated with an increased risk of current, moderate daily drinking, which may represent a form of self-medication.
Highlights
KEY FINDINGS Veterans with a psychiatric disorder (PD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) are more likely than nonveterans to be current, daily drinkers
Non-combat and combat veterans without a functional impairments, and veteran suicide.[4]. It is PD or TBI are less likely than nonveterans to estimated that 13.6% of veterans have an alcohol use disorder[4] and many more are heavy or binge drinkers.[2,3,4]
Self-medicating with alcohol may serve as a substitute for receipt of health services, To date, few studies have compared alcohol use among which may increase some veterans’ risk for nonveterans and veterans with diverse military service unmet needs for military service-related experiences, and no study has examined everyday health care and alcohol problems
Summary
KEY FINDINGS Veterans with a psychiatric disorder (PD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) are more likely than nonveterans to be current, daily drinkers. Drinking may represent self-medicating among veterans who were harmed by their military service. We focus on daily drinking because it may represent a form of self-medicating among veterans who were harmed by their military service. We distinguished four groups who likely had different military service experiences: 1) nonveterans; 2) non-combat veterans without a psychiatric disorder (PD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI); 3) combat veterans without a PD or TBI; and 4) veterans (non-combat and combat combined) with a PD and/or TBI.
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