Alcohol and Mortality: Ethnic and Social Influences

Based on a representative national multiethnic sample first surveyed in 1984, the influence of ethnic and social background on the relationship between alcohol consumption and mortality was examined. More specifically, the following questions were addressed: Is there a differential impact of age on the alcohol consumption-mortality relationship?; What is the role of ethnicity-specific mortality patterns in relation to alcohol?; To what degree are social class and social integration confounding factors in the alcohol-mortality relationship?; Does the influence of ethnicity disappear when social class is adjusted for?