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Understanding Alcohol Consumption Patterns among Older Adults: Continuity and Change

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Alcohol and Aging

Abstract

Older adulthood is a period in which alcohol consumption declines and rates of past-year nondrinking increase. Nonetheless, older adult alcohol use patterns vary based on life course differences that continue into later adulthood and changes that take place as individuals age. This chapter focuses on how these different patterns are defined and quantified in terms of risk, with an emphasis on the idea that the process of aging plays an important role not only in drinking itself, but also on how alcohol use patterns are defined as risky. In particular, the chapter explores the ways that specific older adult factors alter what is seen as at-risk drinking. Additionally, the chapter considers the advantages and disadvantages of applying alcohol use thresholds or criteria for the general population in older adults. After explaining definitions of alcohol use, the chapter provides an overview of sociodemographic correlates of drinking among older adults.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland School of Social Work, 525 West Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    Paul Sacco Ph.D., M.S.W.

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  1. Paul Sacco Ph.D., M.S.W.
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Correspondence to Paul Sacco Ph.D., M.S.W. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College at the City University of New York, New York, New York, USA

    Alexis Kuerbis

  2. Division of Geriatrics, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, California, USA

    Alison.A. Moore

  3. School of Social Work, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Paul Sacco

  4. Department of Behavioral & Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Faika Zanjani

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Sacco, P. (2016). Understanding Alcohol Consumption Patterns among Older Adults: Continuity and Change. In: Kuerbis, A., Moore, A., Sacco, P., Zanjani, F. (eds) Alcohol and Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47233-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47233-1_2

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