Alcohol Use and Older Māori in Aotearoa

This study investigated alcohol use, hazardous and binge drinking prevalence, and their relationships to socio-demographic variables in community dwelling older Māori adults in New Zealand. Alcohol use, hazardous drinking, and binge drinking were assessed with the AUDIT-C in a cross-sectional postal survey of 1042 older Māori people randomly selected from the New Zealand Electoral Roll. A total of 41.2% of all participants reported drinking at hazardous levels. Odds ratios from binomial logistic regression showed hazardous drinking was significantly more likely to occur among males, current smokers, and those with higher local self-contained network scores. Binge drinking was reported by 19.6% of the sample, with odds ratios indicating that males, current smokers, and those with higher Māori cultural identification scores were significantly more likely to report binge drinking. The high rates of hazardous and binge drinking prevalence reported in the current study raise issues of concern when considering the health of older Māori people. Results indicate that social networks, gender, smoking status, and Māori cultural identification may influence hazardous and binge drinking alcohol use. However, limitations of the present study also highlight the need for more focused and in-depth research to be conducted with older Māori people to understand the sociocultural context in which alcohol use occurs.