The Pros And Cons Of Alcohol Consumption

The most common tradition that brings groups of people together comes in the form of alcohol consumption. As such, alcohol has been shown to bring different races and ethnicities together over a central point. Therefore ethanol in alcohol plays a crucial role in the networking between people of different backgrounds. Whether it be a night out with close friends, or meeting someone new each experience with alcohol can be different. Alcohol consumption, a lot of times, practices vary among ethnicities and races. In some instances in a particular race many may not drink alcohol except on an auspicious occasion. This is seen, for example, on Ash Wednesday for Catholics, which is a prominent in countries where the majority of the population practices

This may be a consequence in part due to the economic status of a country or individual. An individual drinker at or below the poverty line is known to spend more money on alcohol despite not being financially capable of supporting themselves easily. This decision can result in the loss of employment, decrease in financial stability, increase medical expenses related to alcohol illness more notably alcoholism, and possible fines due to a run in with the law. In the country of Sri Lanka, a study shows that 7% of men admitted to outflowing on alcoholic purchases more than than their income (Baklien and Samarasinghe, 2001) [1]. A case study in India compared two different groups in one community: one that group that consumed alcohol more than three times a week and another that didn’t drink alcohol. The group that drank alcohol ended up spending 14 times more than the other group. Due to the poor infrastructure in some areas of the country, the group that consumed alcohol needed medical attention a lot more and had to take out more money despite poor medical resources or lack medical resources at all (Saxena, Sharma and Maulik, 2003)

This shows that there is a correlation between alcohol dependence and income. Even more so those with a recent negative difference in income were more likely to experience an onset of alcohol dependence (Keyes and Hasin, 2008)[2]. Similar patterns were discovered among men across ethnicities, mainly among Hispanics and Whites. Sixty-one percent of alcohol purchased is usually consumed at home (Hanson)[3]. There is also variability in alcohol dependence among Hispanic sub-groups; it is seen that U.S.-born Mexican-Americans tend to have higher rates of dependence on alcohol than Mexican-American immigrants or even Cuban-American immigrants. Hispanics makes up the standard minority, along with blacks, and tend to be at lower class compared to their majority counterparts such as Whites therefore correlating income with alcohol dependence. Still there is no significant data that can account for the reason of difference in alcohol dependence between different Hispanic communities. Among blacks similar to Hispanics have higher alcohol dependence but is shaped by social issues. More importantly among U.S.-born African-Americans those from the south that moved to the northern states of the US showed an increase in alcohol consumption. Breaking stereotypes of blacks, studies have shown that Black woman tend to have higher abstinence rates