Alcohol availability and workplace drinking: Mixed method analyses

Objective: This article investigates the relationship between subjective so cial and physical availability of alcohol at work and work-related drinking . Method: We integrated survey and ethnographic methods to determine if and why physical and social availability of alcohol predicted work-related dri nking in a manufacturing plant with approximately 6,000 employees. Survey d ata were obtained from in-home interviews with 984 randomly selected worker s. Respondents were asked about their overall and work-related drinking, th eir perceptions of the ease of obtaining or consuming alcohol in the plant, the work-related drinking of others and their approval/disapproval of work -related drinking by co-workers. Ethnographic data were obtained from 3 yea rs of periodic onsite observations and semistructured interviews with key i nformants to investigate factors underlying alcohol availability and drinki ng at work. Results: Structural equations modeling of the survey data revea led that subjective social availability of alcohol at work, and particularl y perceived drinking by friends and co-workers, was the strongest predictor of work-related drinking. Typical frequency and quantity of alcohol consum ption and heavy drinking were predictive also. Subjective physical availabi lity of alcohol was not significantly related to drinking at or before work . Findings from the ethnographic analyses explained survey findings and des cribed characteristics of the work culture that served to encourage and sup port alcohol availability and drinking. Conclusions: These results are the first to show significant relationships between alcohol availability and dr inking at work, to explain dynamics of that relationship and to demonstrate the potential risks of using only quantitative or only qualitative finding s as the basis for prevention.