Researchers and practitioners often extol the health benefits of social relationships and social participation for older adults. Yet they often ignore how these same bonds and activities may contribute to negative health behaviors. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (16,065 observations from 7,007 respondents), we examined how family characteristics, family history, and social participation predicted three measures of alcohol abuse between ages 53 and 71. Results indicate that, generally, greater social participation is associated with increased drinking days per month. We also found that religious participation and having ever lived with an alcoholic are each associated with reporting possible alcohol dependence but not with alcohol consumption itself. Lastly, we identified gendered associations between marital dissolution and drinking behavior. These findings contextualize the increasing rates of alcohol abuse among older adults by emphasizing the possible negative consequences of “linked lives” on health via relationship stress and group norms.

研究人员和从业者经常赞美老年人的社会关系和社会参与对健康的好处。然而，他们经常忽视这些相同的联系和活动如何导致负面的健康行为。使用来自威斯康星州纵向研究的数据（来自 7,007 名受访者的 16,065 次观察），我们研究了家庭特征、家族史和社会参与如何预测 53 至 71 岁之间酗酒的三种衡量标准。结果表明，一般而言，更大的社会参与与随着每月饮酒天数的增加。我们还发现，宗教参与和曾与酗酒者一起生活都与报告可能的酒精依赖有关，但与饮酒本身无关。最后，我们确定了婚姻解体和饮酒行为之间的性别关联。这些研究结果通过强调“联系生活”通过关系压力和群体规范对健康可能产生的负面影响，将老年人酗酒率的上升置于背景之下。