Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 39, No. 5, 1978
Anomie, Social Classand Drinking Behavior of High-SchoolStudents Daniel Albas/ Cheryl Albas2 and Ken McCluskey 3 SUMMa}tY.In four groupsof students,drinking and the incidenceof drunkenness were directl!I related to anomie.
Late in the 19th century, Durkheim (1) suggestedthat individual and socialproblemscan often be attributed to a relative absenceof commonrules concerningexpectedbehaviorin varioussituations.Durkheim felt that unstructured conditions result in "anomie," a state of
uncertainty,normlessness or "deregulation."Anomie was viewed as a conditionproducingstress,tensionand anxietyleadingto variousforms of deviant behavior,including suicide,mental illness,alcoholismand delinquency(1-3). Durkheim'stheoreticalconceptionof anomiewas later extendedand incorporatedby Merton (4) into a strain theory of deviance.Merton postulatedthat traditionalnormsare often ineffectiveguidesfor lowerclasspersonsxvhohave limited (or virtually no) accessto legitimate meansof attaining their goals.For the lower classes,then, norms lose their morallybindingpower,a strainis created,and thereis a tendency toward
anomie and dcviancc.
Several studieshave attempted to examine Durkheim's theoretical notionsby assessing the relationshipbetweenanomieand drinking.For example, Cheincsse(5) showed that the rate of alcoholismamong Jewsin Francerosedramaticallyas their ticswith the Jewishcommunity beganto •veaken.Snyder(6) usedanomieto accountfor the fact that pathological alcoholconsumption tendsto increasein a progressive yet moderatelystepwisefashionfrom Orthodoxto ReformJewsto secular
drinkers.And Jessoret al. (7) found a direct relationshipbetween drinkingand the degreeof anomiein Anglo-American, SpanishAmerican and AmericanIndian groups. Researchers have notedthat an increasein stressyieldsa concomitant increasein the amountof alcoholconsumedby laboratoryanimals(812) and humans(e.g., 13, 14). Conger'swell-kno•vnlearningtheory • Departmentof Sociology,University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T
2N2.
"epartment of Sociology,University of Winnipeg. a Department of Psychology,University of Manitoba. Receivedfor publication:3 January1977. Revision:6 February 1978. 910
BRIEF REPORTS
911
(15, 16) tiesthe social-structural conditions of anomieinto the learning process(17). If anomieprevailsin the socioculturalenvironment,stress and anxiety arc probably presentas xvell. Conger reasonsthat since alcoholreducesanxietyand sinceanxietyreductionis an extremelypowerful reinforcer,heavydrinkingis rewardedand likely to be maintained.
AlthoughDurkhcim'stheoreticalview of anomieseemsto havemajor implications for drinkingbehavior,it is not generallylinkedto drinking among tcen-agers.Since many personslay the groundworkfor their future drinkinghabitsduringtheir high-school years,the presentstudy attemptedto assessthe relationshipbetween anomie and drinking in high-schoolstudents.Social class,obviouslya relevant concern,was alsoconsidered.In light of the theoreticaland empiricalwork alluded to above,we hypothesized that the higherthe degreeof anomiein any given sociallocation,the higher the rate of alcoholconsumption. METHOD
A total of 163 questionnaireswere distributed to senior students in 4 Manitoba high schools.The 158 usable questionnairesincluded 48 h'om a rural farm school,9,9,from a rural nonfarm school, 17 from an urban school for working-classchildren and 71 from an urban school for middle-class children.
Measure ol• Anomie. Anomie was measuredby asking studentsto indicate the extent of their agreementor disagreementwith a set of normarivestatements adapted from Jessorctal. (7). Five categoriesranging from "absolutely should"to "absolutelyshouldnot" were collapsedinto three categories correspondingto Merton's normatire categories(4) of "prescription,""permission"and "proscription." For eachnormafivestatement,the varianceof the threecategoriesof responses aboutthe mode was measured,and the average of all these variancesfor each of the fOUl'groupsof studentsbecame the four measures of anomie.
Measureol• AlcoholConsumption. A quantity-frequencyindexwas adapted h'om the high-schoolquestionnah'eemployed by Jessoret al. (7). Each student indicatedhow frequentlyhe drank beer, wine and distilled spirits and how much he drank on each occasion. This information was then converted
into a measure of the average number of ounces of absolutealcohol drunk weekly. I•ESULTS
The results were simple and straightforward.The four groups of studentsfollowed a consistentpattern accordingto the measuresused. Measuresfor the urban middle-classstudentswere highest: anomie, 0.69; an average of 0.53 oz of absolutealcohol constunedweekly; and 58.1•/o of the group reporteda frequencyof being drunk or '%igh" during the previousyear that was abovethe medianof four times.Measures for the other groupswere: rural farm, 0.65, 0.48 oz and 46.0•; urban working-class,0.59, 0.38 oz and 40.1•; and rural nonfarm, 0.43, 0.36 oz and 38.1•.
There was a direct relationshipbetween the measuresof anomie and
912
JOURNALOF STUDIESON ALCOHOL
drinking:the greaterthe degreeof anomie,the greaterthe amountof alcoholconsumed(rs- 1.00). There was also a direct relationshipbetween the percentageof studentsdrunk or "high"more than four times during the precedingyear and alcoholconsumption. Additional analysesof the questionnaires revealed that on an occupationalranking (18) the fathersof the urban middle-classstudents rankedhighes•in socialclass,followedby the fathersof the rural nonfarm, urban working-classand rural farm students.There was no consistentrelationshipbetween occupationalstatusand anomie. DISCUSSION
Althoughthe presentstudyfounda directrelationship betweendrinking and anomie,it found no consistentrelationshipbetweenoccupational status and anomie. Thus, instead of supportingMerton's strain theory, the findings supportHirschi'scriticisms(19) of strain theory -that is, that the socioeconomic statusof a communityand its state of anomieare relatively independentof each other. The presentstudymeasuredanomieas a propertyof the sociocultural environmentand drinkingbehavioras a property of the individual.Future researchcould perhapsmeasuredrinking as group behavior and
then relate it, more appropriately,to anomie. From socialagencies, court recordsor guidancecounselors it might be possibleto obtain informationfor estimatingthe alcoholconsumptionof a community.Alternatively,researchers might use a differencescoreof sorts,whereby the amountof alcoholeachpersondrankwhile alonecouldbe subtracted from the amount drunk in social situations.
Althoughthe role of anomiein teen-agedrinking has hithertobeen essentiallyignored,the resultsof the presentstudy, showinga direct relationshipbetween anomieand drinking, suggestthat the conceptis a useful theoreticaland empiricalaid.
REFERENCES
1. DUaKHELXi, E. Division of labor in society.New York; Macmillan; 1933. [Orig. 1893.]
2. DU•KHEIM, E. Suicide. New York; Free Press;1951. [Orig. 1897.] 3. DEG•AZIA, S. The political community;a study of anomie.Chicago;University of Chicago Press; 1948. 4. MEnTON,R. K. Social theory and socialstructure.New York; Free Press;1957. 5. CHE•NESSE, L. La race juive, iouit-elled'une immunit• • l'•gard de l'alcoolisme? Sem. m•d. 28• 613-615, 1908.
6. SN¾•Es,C. R. Alcohol and the •ews; a cultural study of drinking and sobriety. (Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies,Monogr. No. 1.) Carbondale;Southern Illinois University Press; 1978. [Orig. 1958.] 7. JESSOR, R., I•IIAVES,T. D., HANSON,R. C. and JEssoil,S. L. Society, personality, and deviant behavior;a study of a tri-ethnic community.New York; Holt, Rinehart & Winston; 1968.
BRIEF REPORTS
913
8. CASV.¾, A. The effect of stresson the consumptionof alcohol and reserpine. Q. J. Stud. Alcohol21: 208-216, 1960. 9. CONGV. R, J. J. The effects of alcohol on conflict behavior in the albino rat. Q. J. Stud. Alcohol 12: 1-29, 1951. 10. MASSERMAN, J. H. and YUM, K. S. An analysisof the influenceof alcoholon experimentalneurosesin cats. Psychosom. Med. 8• 36-52, 1946. 11. MASSetaMAr, J. H., JAcQuv. s, M. G. and N•CHOLSO•,M. R. Alcohol as a preventive of experimentalneuroses.Q. J. Stud. Alcohol6.' 281-299, 1945. 12. CLAY, M. L. Conditionsaffecting voluntary alcohol consumptionin rats. Q. J. Stud. Alcohol 25.' 36-55, 1964.
13. C,•H,•L,•, D., C•s•, I. H. and CaOSSLV.¾, H. M. Americandrinking practices; a national survey of behaviorand attitudes related to alcoholicbeverages. (Social ResearchGroup, Rep. No. 3.) Washington,DC; George Washington University; 1967.
14. KINGH,•M,R. J. Alcoholismand the reinforcementtheory of learning. Q. J. Stud. Alcohol 19.' 320-330, 1958.
15. Co•cv.a, J. J. Reinforcementtheory and the dynamicsof alcoholism.Q. J. Stud. Alcohol 17.' 296-305,
1956.
16. Co•cv.a,J. J. Perception,learning,and emotion;the role of alcohol.Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. & Soc. Sci. 315• 31-39, 1958.
17. A•cv. as, R. L. Deviant behavior; a social learning approach. Belmont, CA; Wadsworth; 1973.
18. PI•.o, P. C. and Poaxv. a, J. Occupational prestigein Canada.Can. Rev. Sociol. & Anthropol. 4.- 24-40, 1967. 19. Hmscm, T. Causesof delinquency. Berkeley; University of California Press; 1969.
Anomie, Social Classand Drinking Behavior of High-SchoolStudents Daniel Albas/ Cheryl Albas2 and Ken McCluskey 3 SUMMa}tY.In four groupsof students,drinking and the incidenceof drunkenness were directl!I related to anomie.
Late in the 19th century, Durkheim (1) suggestedthat individual and socialproblemscan often be attributed to a relative absenceof commonrules concerningexpectedbehaviorin varioussituations.Durkheim felt that unstructured conditions result in "anomie," a state of
uncertainty,normlessness or "deregulation."Anomie was viewed as a conditionproducingstress,tensionand anxietyleadingto variousforms of deviant behavior,including suicide,mental illness,alcoholismand delinquency(1-3). Durkheim'stheoreticalconceptionof anomiewas later extendedand incorporatedby Merton (4) into a strain theory of deviance.Merton postulatedthat traditionalnormsare often ineffectiveguidesfor lowerclasspersonsxvhohave limited (or virtually no) accessto legitimate meansof attaining their goals.For the lower classes,then, norms lose their morallybindingpower,a strainis created,and thereis a tendency toward
anomie and dcviancc.
Several studieshave attempted to examine Durkheim's theoretical notionsby assessing the relationshipbetweenanomieand drinking.For example, Cheincsse(5) showed that the rate of alcoholismamong Jewsin Francerosedramaticallyas their ticswith the Jewishcommunity beganto •veaken.Snyder(6) usedanomieto accountfor the fact that pathological alcoholconsumption tendsto increasein a progressive yet moderatelystepwisefashionfrom Orthodoxto ReformJewsto secular
drinkers.And Jessoret al. (7) found a direct relationshipbetween drinkingand the degreeof anomiein Anglo-American, SpanishAmerican and AmericanIndian groups. Researchers have notedthat an increasein stressyieldsa concomitant increasein the amountof alcoholconsumedby laboratoryanimals(812) and humans(e.g., 13, 14). Conger'swell-kno•vnlearningtheory • Departmentof Sociology,University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T
2N2.
"epartment of Sociology,University of Winnipeg. a Department of Psychology,University of Manitoba. Receivedfor publication:3 January1977. Revision:6 February 1978. 910
BRIEF REPORTS
911
(15, 16) tiesthe social-structural conditions of anomieinto the learning process(17). If anomieprevailsin the socioculturalenvironment,stress and anxiety arc probably presentas xvell. Conger reasonsthat since alcoholreducesanxietyand sinceanxietyreductionis an extremelypowerful reinforcer,heavydrinkingis rewardedand likely to be maintained.
AlthoughDurkhcim'stheoreticalview of anomieseemsto havemajor implications for drinkingbehavior,it is not generallylinkedto drinking among tcen-agers.Since many personslay the groundworkfor their future drinkinghabitsduringtheir high-school years,the presentstudy attemptedto assessthe relationshipbetween anomie and drinking in high-schoolstudents.Social class,obviouslya relevant concern,was alsoconsidered.In light of the theoreticaland empiricalwork alluded to above,we hypothesized that the higherthe degreeof anomiein any given sociallocation,the higher the rate of alcoholconsumption. METHOD
A total of 163 questionnaireswere distributed to senior students in 4 Manitoba high schools.The 158 usable questionnairesincluded 48 h'om a rural farm school,9,9,from a rural nonfarm school, 17 from an urban school for working-classchildren and 71 from an urban school for middle-class children.
Measure ol• Anomie. Anomie was measuredby asking studentsto indicate the extent of their agreementor disagreementwith a set of normarivestatements adapted from Jessorctal. (7). Five categoriesranging from "absolutely should"to "absolutelyshouldnot" were collapsedinto three categories correspondingto Merton's normatire categories(4) of "prescription,""permission"and "proscription." For eachnormafivestatement,the varianceof the threecategoriesof responses aboutthe mode was measured,and the average of all these variancesfor each of the fOUl'groupsof studentsbecame the four measures of anomie.
Measureol• AlcoholConsumption. A quantity-frequencyindexwas adapted h'om the high-schoolquestionnah'eemployed by Jessoret al. (7). Each student indicatedhow frequentlyhe drank beer, wine and distilled spirits and how much he drank on each occasion. This information was then converted
into a measure of the average number of ounces of absolutealcohol drunk weekly. I•ESULTS
The results were simple and straightforward.The four groups of studentsfollowed a consistentpattern accordingto the measuresused. Measuresfor the urban middle-classstudentswere highest: anomie, 0.69; an average of 0.53 oz of absolutealcohol constunedweekly; and 58.1•/o of the group reporteda frequencyof being drunk or '%igh" during the previousyear that was abovethe medianof four times.Measures for the other groupswere: rural farm, 0.65, 0.48 oz and 46.0•; urban working-class,0.59, 0.38 oz and 40.1•; and rural nonfarm, 0.43, 0.36 oz and 38.1•.
There was a direct relationshipbetween the measuresof anomie and
912
JOURNALOF STUDIESON ALCOHOL
drinking:the greaterthe degreeof anomie,the greaterthe amountof alcoholconsumed(rs- 1.00). There was also a direct relationshipbetween the percentageof studentsdrunk or "high"more than four times during the precedingyear and alcoholconsumption. Additional analysesof the questionnaires revealed that on an occupationalranking (18) the fathersof the urban middle-classstudents rankedhighes•in socialclass,followedby the fathersof the rural nonfarm, urban working-classand rural farm students.There was no consistentrelationshipbetween occupationalstatusand anomie. DISCUSSION
Althoughthe presentstudyfounda directrelationship betweendrinking and anomie,it found no consistentrelationshipbetweenoccupational status and anomie. Thus, instead of supportingMerton's strain theory, the findings supportHirschi'scriticisms(19) of strain theory -that is, that the socioeconomic statusof a communityand its state of anomieare relatively independentof each other. The presentstudymeasuredanomieas a propertyof the sociocultural environmentand drinkingbehavioras a property of the individual.Future researchcould perhapsmeasuredrinking as group behavior and
then relate it, more appropriately,to anomie. From socialagencies, court recordsor guidancecounselors it might be possibleto obtain informationfor estimatingthe alcoholconsumptionof a community.Alternatively,researchers might use a differencescoreof sorts,whereby the amountof alcoholeachpersondrankwhile alonecouldbe subtracted from the amount drunk in social situations.
Althoughthe role of anomiein teen-agedrinking has hithertobeen essentiallyignored,the resultsof the presentstudy, showinga direct relationshipbetween anomieand drinking, suggestthat the conceptis a useful theoreticaland empiricalaid.
REFERENCES
1. DUaKHELXi, E. Division of labor in society.New York; Macmillan; 1933. [Orig. 1893.]
2. DU•KHEIM, E. Suicide. New York; Free Press;1951. [Orig. 1897.] 3. DEG•AZIA, S. The political community;a study of anomie.Chicago;University of Chicago Press; 1948. 4. MEnTON,R. K. Social theory and socialstructure.New York; Free Press;1957. 5. CHE•NESSE, L. La race juive, iouit-elled'une immunit• • l'•gard de l'alcoolisme? Sem. m•d. 28• 613-615, 1908.
6. SN¾•Es,C. R. Alcohol and the •ews; a cultural study of drinking and sobriety. (Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies,Monogr. No. 1.) Carbondale;Southern Illinois University Press; 1978. [Orig. 1958.] 7. JESSOR, R., I•IIAVES,T. D., HANSON,R. C. and JEssoil,S. L. Society, personality, and deviant behavior;a study of a tri-ethnic community.New York; Holt, Rinehart & Winston; 1968.
BRIEF REPORTS
913
8. CASV.¾, A. The effect of stresson the consumptionof alcohol and reserpine. Q. J. Stud. Alcohol21: 208-216, 1960. 9. CONGV. R, J. J. The effects of alcohol on conflict behavior in the albino rat. Q. J. Stud. Alcohol 12: 1-29, 1951. 10. MASSERMAN, J. H. and YUM, K. S. An analysisof the influenceof alcoholon experimentalneurosesin cats. Psychosom. Med. 8• 36-52, 1946. 11. MASSetaMAr, J. H., JAcQuv. s, M. G. and N•CHOLSO•,M. R. Alcohol as a preventive of experimentalneuroses.Q. J. Stud. Alcohol6.' 281-299, 1945. 12. CLAY, M. L. Conditionsaffecting voluntary alcohol consumptionin rats. Q. J. Stud. Alcohol 25.' 36-55, 1964.
13. C,•H,•L,•, D., C•s•, I. H. and CaOSSLV.¾, H. M. Americandrinking practices; a national survey of behaviorand attitudes related to alcoholicbeverages. (Social ResearchGroup, Rep. No. 3.) Washington,DC; George Washington University; 1967.
14. KINGH,•M,R. J. Alcoholismand the reinforcementtheory of learning. Q. J. Stud. Alcohol 19.' 320-330, 1958.
15. Co•cv.a, J. J. Reinforcementtheory and the dynamicsof alcoholism.Q. J. Stud. Alcohol 17.' 296-305,
1956.
16. Co•cv.a,J. J. Perception,learning,and emotion;the role of alcohol.Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. & Soc. Sci. 315• 31-39, 1958.
17. A•cv. as, R. L. Deviant behavior; a social learning approach. Belmont, CA; Wadsworth; 1973.
18. PI•.o, P. C. and Poaxv. a, J. Occupational prestigein Canada.Can. Rev. Sociol. & Anthropol. 4.- 24-40, 1967. 19. Hmscm, T. Causesof delinquency. Berkeley; University of California Press; 1969.
