Social Correlates of Drinking and Driving

Drinking and driving were studied in 152 respondents in Greentown (pseudonym of a Middle Atlantic city, population 20,000) and 8014 automobile drivers in Grand Rapids, Mich. Both samples were compared to Census findings and the biases largely corrected. Previous studies of drinking and driving are reviewed. Drinking: The data are extensively tabulated and discussed. In Greentown, drinking, the quantity and frequency of drinking, and indicators of deviant drinking (drinking alone, drinking for the sake of intoxication, and “retaliatory” drinking) were related to sex, age, size of one's community of origin, religious affiliation, church attendance, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (education, occupation and income) and social mobility. In Grand Rapids, drinking, the quantity and frequency of drinking, problem drinking (weekly intoxication, monthly hangovers and problems caused by drinking) were related to similar social factors and, in addition, to marital status. More men (Greentown 84%, Grand Rapids 78%) than women (77 and 68%) were drinkers; men drank greater amounts more frequently; 12% of the Greentown men and 6% of the women were deviant drinkers; 7 to 10% of the Grand Rapids men, 2 to 4% of the women, were problem drinkers. Drinkers under 30 years of age drank greater amounts and more were problem drinkers; drinkers over 50 drank more frequently and more drank alone and for the sake of intoxication. More divorced and separated men and women were heavy frequent drinkers; 20% of the divorced and separated men (20% of the women) and 6% of the married men (2% of the women) were problem drinkers. The lowest proportion of drinkers was found among non-Whites (67% in Grand Rapids, 50% in Greentown), but they also had the highest proportion of problem (11%) and deviant (21%) drinkers. Jews (0), British, Dutch and Irish Protestants (3%) and Southern European Catholics (4%) had the lowest proportion of deviant drinkers. The proportion of drinkers was directly related to socioeconomic status, but deviant and problems drinkers were most frequent among the lower classes. Church attendance among Protestants, but not among Catholics, was inversely related to the proportion of drinkers and problem and deviant drinkers. Driving and Drinking: The data are extensively tabulated. In Greentown the percentage of drivers, of families with cars, of families in which teenagers or all adults drive and the percentage who report driving after drinking at leisure activities are related to the above social variables. In Grand Rapids the estimated annual mileage driven, the percentage who reported driving after drinking and under the influence of alcohol and the percentage with blood alcohol levels (bac) of 0.01% and over and 0.05% and over were related to the social variables. Both samples reported their attitudes toward driving after drinking. Higher estimates of the safe amount to drink before driving were reported by men than by women, by those aged 20 to 44, the divorced and separated, non-Whites, Catholics and the lower classes. Leisure activities: More driving after drinking was reported after “socializing” (by 39%) than after sports (26%), service activities (18%) , hobbies (14%) or entertainment (7%). Sex and age: More men (76%) than women (60%) and more persons aged under than over 40 years were drinkers and drivers and drove after drinking (men 51%, women 26%) ; those aged under 20 and over 60 were least likely to be drivers and drinkers; 37% of the Grand Rapids men and 7% of the women drove more than 15,000 miles annually. Marital status: In all age groups more divorced, separated and single respondents reported driving after drinking: in the age group 45 to 64 driving after drinking was reported by 58% of the divorced or separated men and 33% of the women, 56% of the single and 62% of the widowed men, compared with 37% of the married men, 9% of the women; positive bacs were found in fewer married (14%) than divorced or separated (26%) men and women. Religious affiliation and ethnicity: Jews (80%) were most likely to be drivers and drinkers, followed by Catholics (65%) and more “liberal” Protestants (68%); Protestants not of British or Dutch origin (47%) and northwest European Catholics (66% )—mainly Irish—were most likely to drive after drinking; Negroes were least likely to be drivers and drinkers (24%) but had the highest percentage (24) of those with positive bacs; more Catholics (15%) than white Protestants (11%) or Jews (8%) had positive bacs. Social class: In Greentown higher status was associated with a greater proportion of drivers and drinkers and drinking drivers; in Grand Rapids more blue-collar than white-collar respondents drove after drinking and more blue-collar respondents had positive bacs (17 vs 12%); respondents with higher incomes were less likely to drive while intoxicated, except in the lowest income group ($3000 or less) in which only 1% reported driving while intoxicated compared with 4% of those earning $15,000 or over and 8% of those earning $3–5000; the most significant differences were found in the lowest classes which owned the fewest cars and drank and drove the least. Church attendance was negatively related to driving after drinking among White Protestants, but not among Catholics or Negroes. Provenience: The size of one's community of origin was directly related to being a driver and drinker. It is concluded that ethnic and religious factors are important determinants in drinking and driving. The drinking and driving behavior of the lower classes are clearly distinguishable. The role of anomie, or alienation, in deviant behavior is discussed and the finding that more divorced or separated and single persons drive after drinking is related to the same finding in suicides.