NCJ Number
150029
Journal
Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education Volume: 39 Issue: 3 Dated: (Spring 1994) Pages: 87-98
Date Published
1994
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Data from 498 drunk-driving offenders formed the basis of an analysis of the psychosocial stressors to which they had been exposed in the year before their arrest and that might be associated with driving while intoxicated.
Abstract
The participants had been arrested in Missouri and placed on probation for drunk driving over a 6-month period. They completed a computerized version of the Substance Use Disorder Diagnostic Schedule. They also answered questions about 20 stressors such as financial problems and the breakup of a relationship and about problems associated with alcohol use. Results revealed that people arrested for driving while intoxicated were more likely to have experienced certain types of stressors in the previous year than would be expected in the general population. Arrest, job loss and unemployment, financial difficulties, divorce or separation, illness or death in the family, and conflict in the home had all occurred in more than one-third of these arrestees. Findings suggested that increased alcohol consumption represents a maladaptive coping device for these individuals. Tables and 28 references (Author abstract modified)