Drinking motivations in UK serving and ex-serving military personnel.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Drinking motivations within the UK military have not been studied despite the high prevalence of alcohol misuse in this group.

Aims

We aimed to characterize drinking motivations and their demographic, military and mental health associations in UK serving and ex-serving personnel.

Methods

Serving and ex-serving personnel reporting mental health, stress or emotional problems occurring in the last 3 years were selected from an existing cohort study. A semi-structured telephone interview survey examined participants' mental health, help-seeking, alcohol use and drinking motivations.

Results

Exploratory factor analysis of drinking motivations in military personnel (n = 1279; response rate = 84.6%) yielded 2 factors, labelled 'drinking to cope' and 'social

SUBMITTER: Irizar P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7305700 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature