A longitudinal analysis on determinants of problem drinking among Korean women: focusing on a gender perspective

BACKGROUND: In recent years, female drinking has been on the rise worldwide, and this trend can be observed in Korea as well. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine the heterogeneous longitudinal changes in drinking patterns among Korean women, while also exploring the determinants of these changes. In particular, the study identified the gender perspective-related determinants of the classified patterns of problem drinking. METHODS: Data on 4615 adult women who participated in the Korea Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS) for 3 years (2018–2020) were analyzed longitudinally using SPSS Statistics 22.0 and M-plus 7.0. The changes in female drinking patterns were analyzed using latent class growth analysis. Subsequently, multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the predictive factors affecting the changes in drinking patterns. RESULTS: Latent class analysis yielded three classes: “low problem drinking/decreased,” “moderate problem drinking/maintained,” and “high problem drinking/increased.” Of the participants, 80.4% were in the first class, 14.5% in the second, and 5.1% in the third. After controlling for sociodemographic and psychosocial factors, we found: i) domestic violence, work–family balance stress, and gender role perception were not statistically significant for the “moderate problem drinking/maintained” class; lower levels of depression (odds ratio; OR = .750, p < .05) and higher levels of satisfaction with social relationships (OR = 1.257, p < .05) increased the probability of belonging to the “moderate problem drinking/maintained” group compared to the low problem drinking/decreased class; ii) in the “high problem drinking/increased” class, relative to the low problem drinking/decreased class, experience of domestic violence (OR = 1.857, p < .05), work–family balance stress (OR = 1.309, p < .05), and gender role perception (OR = .705, p < .05) were significant predictors of drinking behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Problem drinking in Korean women demonstrated heterogeneous patterns of change, with gender-specific factors being the main predictors of this change. Therefore, this study developed a strategy for reducing the harmful effects of female drinking, which considers the characteristics of the changes in women’s drinking patterns as well as factors from the gender perspective.