Work-related stress, coping resources, and heavy drinking in the restaurant business

On the basis of findings of high levels of alcohol consumption and risk of alcohol-related disease among employees of the restaurant business, the ability of the Karasek work-strain model to predict heavy drinking was investigated in a cross-sectional study of 3204 Norwegian male and female waiters and cooks. In the logistic regression analyses, no strong associations between work stress and heavy drinking were found. However, the effectiveness of individual coping resources, measured as frequency of difficulty in relaxing after work, was an important predictor of heavy drinking, as were household type, age group, and occupation. Although no strong direct associations between work stress and heavy drinking were found, the results are consistent with a model where coping resources are the mediatiing variable between work stress and heavy drinking.