This file contains the text of part of the April/May 2003 issue of Research in Brief (ISSN 1047-8418), a newsletter published three times a year by the Research Institute on Addictions, a component of the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Permission to reproduce this material is granted with the condition that users identify the Research Institute on Addictions as the source. For more information, contact: RIA Public Communications, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo , N.Y. 14203-1016.

Predictors of Overall and On-the-Job Substance Use Among Young Workers

Michael R. Frone, Ph.D.

Research Institute on Addictions,
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Abstracted from the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 8, 39-54, 2003.

The goal of this study was to explore the risk factors for alcohol and marijuana use by young workers. This study extends previous research in several ways. First, a comprehensive set of risk factors was assessed. Second, both overall and on-the-job substance use or impairment were assessed. Finally, the risk factors for overall and on-the-job substance use were explored during a developmental period when individuals are just entering the work force. The study sample included 319 employed adolescents between the ages of 16 and 19.

Six general domains of risk factors were examined:

• demographics
• personality
• substance use outcome expectancies
• workplace substance availability
• workplace social control
• work stressors

The outcomes:

• overall alcohol use
• on-the-job alcohol use
• overall marijuana use
• on-the-job marijuana use

Findings

Demographics: Male employees, compared to female employees, reported higher levels of alcohol and marijuana use both overall and on the job. Older participants reported higher levels of both overall and on-the-job alcohol use than younger participants. Age, however, was not related to marijuana use. African American employees reported lower levels of overall alcohol use, overall marijuana use, and on-the-job alcohol use compared with employees in the other racial/ethnic groups.

Personality characteristics: Impulsivity and a propensity for risk-taking were both related to higher levels of overall alcohol and overall marijuana use. Rebelliousness was related to higher levels of on-the-job alcohol use. However, personality characteristics did not predict on-the-job marijuana use.

Substance use outcome expectancies: The present results revealed that overall alcohol and marijuana use may be partially motivated by a desire to self-regulate or reduce negative emotions and by a desire to improve thinking and behavioral performance. In contrast, alcohol and marijuana use at work was only motivated by a desire to improve thinking and behavioral performance.

Workplace characteristics: Workplace availability — defined as physical availability and social acceptance — was related to higher levels of overall marijuana use and alcohol and marijuana use at work. Social acceptance at work for substance use was more important than physical availability. Employees who reported high levels of job visibility also reported lower levels of substance use. Work stressors, in contrast, were not related to employee substance use.

Study Particulars

• Participants were 319 adolescents recruited through advertisements at three local colleges and 37 high schools in Erie County, New York for the Youth Employment and School Study. Questionnaire sessions were conducted during April, May, and June of 1996 and participants were paid $25 for completing the 90-minute questionnaire. All participants were required to give informed consent and parental consent was obtained for those under 18. Participants were told they could skip any question they felt uncomfortable answering.
• On average, participants were 17.7 years of age, worked 19 hours per week, and had held their current job for 11.5 months. Forty percent of the participants were male and 68 percent were European American. They were employed in sales (39%), food service (25%), manual labor (11%), semiskilled (11%), clerical (8%), and other areas (5%).
• Personality terms or definitions: Rebelliousness was defined as the extent to which individuals are defiant and frustrated when exposed to regulations, cannot freely govern their own behavior, or cannot initiate independent decisions. Impulsivity represented the extent to which individuals behave with little forethought for the consequences of their behavior. Risk-taking represented the extent to which individuals regard risky situations and behaviors as exciting and pleasurable. Negative affectivity represented the extent to which individuals experience negative moods and emotional reactions.
• Substance use outcome expectancies: Affect regulation expectancies represent beliefs that the use of alcohol or marijuana can reduce negative emotions. Performance regulation expectancies represent beliefs that the use of alcohol or marijuana can improve cognitive (thinking) and behavioral performance.
• Workplace characteristics: Physical availability represented the ease of obtaining and using psychoactive substances at work. Social acceptance represents the extent of support by others in the workplace for alcohol and drug use. Social control was defined as job visibility while performing job duties. Work stressors covered several dimensions of the work environment, including low autonomy, lack of control over job performance, job meaninglessness, unfair job demands, high workload, exposure to environ- mental hazards, and interpersonal conflict.
• Substance use: Overall alcohol and marijuana use represent the extent to which participants were likely to use or be impaired by each substance across all contexts. On-the-job alcohol and marijuana use represent the extent to which participants were likely to use or be impaired by each substance during their work shift.

Implications

• This study suggests that organizations need to be concerned about substance use among young workers.
• Employee substance use, overall and at work, may be affected by factors that occur outside the workplace (demographic differences, personality predispositions, and expectancies regarding the outcomes of substance use) and factors that occur within the workplace (social acceptance and job visibility at work).
• Employee substance use may be partially reduced by (a) changing employees’ beliefs that alcohol and marijuana can reduce negative emotions and improve performance, (b) addressing social climates at work that support substance use both off and on the job, and (c) increasing social control — job visibility or supervisor monitoring — where feasible.

Study Considerations

• Although this study used a broader assessment of job stressors than previous research and explored both overall and on-the-job substance use, it did not find a strong relationship between job stressors and employee substance use. Although beyond the scope of the present study, Frone (1999) has suggested previously that smaller subgroups of vulnerable workers may exist that show stronger relations between job stressors and substance use.
• There were limits on the ability to draw strong conclusions regarding cause and effect because workers were not followed over a period of time.
• All of the data in this study were based on self-reports.

References

Frone, M. R. (1999). Work stress and alcohol use. Alcohol Research and Health, 23, 284-291.

This research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (K21-AA00194 and R01-AA12412).