Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 36, Issue 9, September 2011, Pages 933-936
Addictive Behaviors

Short Communication
Age and gender as moderators of the relationship between physical activity and alcohol use

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.04.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

Understanding moderators of the relationship between physical activity (PA) and alcohol use is important for clarifying the mechanisms underlying these behaviors and informing health promotion interventions. This study examined age and gender as two candidate moderators of the PA-alcohol use link.

Method

As part of a correlational, cross-sectional population-based study of US 34,653 adults, participants were administered surveys assessing demographics, alcohol use, moderate and vigorous PA, and other characteristics. Composite indices of the frequency and quantity of alcohol use and PA were utilized in analyses.

Results

Age moderated the association between past-year vigorous PA and alcohol use (ps  .01). Vigorous PA was positively associated with alcohol use in individuals under 50 years of age (ps  .05), but not in individuals over 50 years of age (ps  0.05). Gender moderated the association between past-year moderate PA and alcohol use (ps < .001). The relation was stronger in males (β = .72) than in females (β = .41). Each of the findings remained significant even when controlling for demographics, psychiatric variables, and other potential confounds.

Conclusion

Among the American population of adults, age appears to moderate the relationship between vigorous PA and alcohol use, whereas gender appears to moderate the relationship between moderate PA and alcohol use. These findings shed light on the underlying mechanisms that may account for increased alcohol use in exercisers and may have clinical implications for alcohol screening and interventions in adults who lead active lifestyles.

Research highlights

► Clarifies mechanisms of athlete drinking and informs health promotion interventions. ► Study examined age and gender as moderators of physical activity–alcohol use link. ► Physical activity associated with alcohol in under 50 years but not over 50. ► Relation between physical activity and alcohol use stronger in males than females. ► Implications for alcohol screening in adults who lead active lifestyles.

Section snippets

Sample and procedure

Participants were respondents in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC; Wave 2, 2004–2005) (Grant, Moore, Shepard, & Kaplan, 2003). The participants were civilian, non-institutionalized individuals aged 18 and above, and constituted a representative sample of the adult population of the United States. One adult was selected to be interviewed in each household (N = 43,093). The overall response rate for wave one was 81.0%; and 86.7% (N = 34,653) for wave two.

Physical activity

Following McTiernan et al.'s (2006) approach, a composite variable of vigorous PA in the last 12 months was created using the product of two items measuring frequency and duration, “How often in the last 12 months did you USUALLY do VIGOROUS activities that caused you to sweat HEAVILY or caused LARGE increases in your breathing or heart rate?” (0 = never, 1 = 1 to 2 times in the last year, 2 = 3 to 6 times in the last year, 3 = 7 to 11 times in the last year, 4 = once a month, 5 = 2 to 3 times a month, 6 = 2

Statistical analysis

Linear regression analysis was used to examine univariate relations between PA and alcohol use. To test whether gender moderated PA-alcohol relations, regression models including a PA variable (vigorous or moderate), gender, and their interaction as predictors and alcohol use as the outcome were performed. Models examining age as a moderator and the three-way interaction were tested in the same fashion.

For all analyses, two parallel models were performed: using moderate and vigorous PA as

Univariate relations between PA and alcohol use

See Table 1 for descriptive characteristics of the sample. Vigorous PA was positively associated with alcohol use in both unadjusted models, β = .10, p < .0001, and adjusted models, β = .06, p < .0001. Moderate PA was significantly associated with alcohol use in both unadjusted models, β = .08, p < .0001, and adjusted models, β = .04, p < .0001.

Relationships between vigorous PA and alcohol use by age and gender

For vigorous PA, there was a significant interaction between vigorous PA and age in both unadjusted models, β = .01, p < .0001, and adjusted models, β = .01, p < .001. However

Discussion

The present study extends literature on the PA-alcohol use link by examining the moderating effect of age and gender. Consistent with our hypotheses, age significantly moderated the association between vigorous PA and alcohol use. Vigorous PA evidenced stronger relationships in younger participants. The relations were strongest in adults aged 20–25, moderate in those 26–50, and weakest in adults over age 50. Furthermore, gender significantly moderated the moderate PA-alcohol use link, with

Role of Funding Sources

This manuscript was not supported by a grant.

Contributors

Nadra Lisha completed the analyses and wrote the first draft. Authors Nadra Lisha, Matthew Martend, and Adam Leventhal all contributed to the manuscript and have approved of the final manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

All authors have no conflict of interest.

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