Alcohol is a cruel master

Alcohol is a cruel master. It does not discriminate against a person. It does not matter what country you are from. One of the most common alcoholic drinks associated with Russia is Vodka. There are numerous skits where Jimmy Fallon is portraying a Russian and drinking Vodka making it seem like it’s a joke. Truth is alcohol is not a joke. Continuous alcohol use can have a serious impact on an individual’s life. It can interfere with job, school, and family. A longitudinal study was conducted in Izhevsk, Russia to measure the effect acute alcohol related dysfunction had on possible prediction of employment status.

For the purpose of this study individuals that had already been included in a cross-sectional survey known as the Izhevsk Family Study (IFS-1). Of the 1941 men that had been given the survey 1143 men age 25-54 who were in steady employment and were available for a follow-up interview were used in this study. Men that had been interviewed during the IFS-1 had to answer questions pertaining to the frequency of their drinking, what type of alcoholic beverage it was (I.e. beer, wine, spirits) and the volume of intake on their drinking. The questions from the IFS-1 were used to determine the total volume of ethanol from the drinks consumed on a daily basis. The men were then given a follow up interview known as the IFS-2 2-3 years later.  The use of IFS-1 and 2 were used to measure the occurrences of alcohol related dysfunction in the individual’s life. Alcohol related dysfunction is hangovers, failing family because of drunkenness, excessive drunkenness, and sleeping in clothes because of drunkenness (Cook, DeStavola, Saburova, & Leon, 2014). The occurrences were divided into two types of dysfunctions: routine dysfunction and sporadic dysfunction. Routine dysfunction is what occurred on a daily basis and came from excessive drunkenness. Sporadic dysfunction came from binge drinking, or what is defined in Russia as zapoi-which is a period of time where the individual is withdrawn from social and work life and is on a continuous state of drunkenness for a few days or possibly weeks (Cook, DeStavola, Saburova, & Leon, 2014). 

This study did not show a significant effect from the total volume of ethanol consumed as a predictor of employment status. There was however; a very strong indication that excessive alcohol use negatively affected employment status at the follow-up interview.

There were several cofounding variables in this study. Age, marital status and socioeconomic levels could have influenced the ability to obtain employment regardless of the use of alcohol.

This study could lead the way to further research into looking at the affect that alcohol use has on employment. 

Abstract