The Relationship between Hours Worked and Alcohol Use Disorders

The relationship between an individual=s annual hours worked and various measures of alcohol use disorders is estimated using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Previous research on wages, hours worked, and employment, using this data has focused on the relationship between these productivity measures and frequency and quantity of alcohol use variables. An emerging contention among some researchers is that while alcohol consumption measures may not affect labor productivity, measures such as alcohol use disorders that reflect problematic drinking do. A time series cross-sectional model is used to estimate the relationship between annual hours worked of individuals reported in two time periods and standard labor supply determining characteristics as well as measures of alcohol use disorders constructed in the spirit of criteria used in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third and fourth edition. Also, the relationship between hours worked and other indicators shown in the literature to be related to alcohol dependence or abuse, such as binge drinking is investigated. Results are compared to those obtained using alcohol consumption measures