A Longitudinal Analysis of Alcohol Use Behavior among Korean Adults and Related Conditions: Latent Class Growth Model

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Aim(s): The present study classified the changes in alcohol use behavior among Korean adults and explored the related conditions.
Method(s): The study used data from the 4th (2009) to 14th (2019) waves of the Korean Welfare Panel Study. The subjects were 8,267 adults aged 19-60 years. The latent class growth analysis was used to classify the latent classes of alcohol use behavior among Korean adults and logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the specific factors that form the classes. In addition, 11-year trajectories of major variables associated with alcohol use behavior for the derived classes was analyzed by growth mixture modeling.
Result(s): There were four classes identified according to the trajectories of alcohol use behavior: “moderate to low risk class,” “low to moderate risk class,” “stable moderate risk class,” and “stable low risk class.” Subjects who are aged 19-49 years, males, or unemployed; belong to a single-person or grandparent/single-parent family; or have education level of high school graduate or below had higher likelihood of belonging to the “stable moderate risk class” or “low to moderate risk class.” There were statistically significant differences in the trajectories of depression, self-esteem, satisfaction with family relationships, and satisfaction with leisure activities according to class of alcohol use behavior. In particular, self-esteem and satisfaction with family relationships showed distinctly decreasing trajectories in the low to moderate risk class.
Conclusion(s): These results suggested the need for longitudinal analysis on the factors that influence alcohol use behavior. Therefore, future longitudinal studies should include longitudinal analysis of not only dependent variables, but also various predictors. Furthermore, with respect to alcohol use behavior among Korean adults, the findings in the present study emphasize the need for mandatory drinking prevention education, intervention, and improvement of workplace drinking culture for males aged 20-40 years, who have been identified as high-risk group, while also suggesting intervention for families, as well as the individual drinker.