Project 3

The table "How Often Drank Any Alcohol in Last 12 Months" uses categorical variables to measure someone's drinking habits with the following code.

1.     Every day

2.     Nearly every day

3.     3 to 4 times a week

4.     2 times a week

5.     Once a week

6.     2 to 3 times a week

7.     Once a month

8.     7 to 11 times in the last year

9.     3 to 6 times in the last year

10.  1 or 2 times in the last year

11.  Former Drinker or Abstainer
Missing Frequency means Unknown response

I collapsed the classes into 3 based on even distribution of people of varying family incomes. I collapsed the "Number of Drinks" with an upper limit. For example, in "Number of Drinks of any Alcohol consumed on days when drank alcohol" I collapsed all responses greater than 7 into the number 7.

Project 2

Below this text is the first SAS program I have ever written. With this program I used I focused on the 6,138 individuals surveyed that had a total family income in last 12 months greater than $80,000 out of the total 43,093 surveyed for NESARC. I used this program to create three frequency tables based on the survey results for three questions about alcohol use.

The table "How Often Drank Any Alcohol in Last 12 Months" uses categorical variables to measure someone's drinking habits with the following code.

1.     Every day

2.     Nearly every day

3.     3 to 4 times a week

4.     2 times a week

5.     Once a week

6.     2 to 3 times a week

7.     Once a month

8.     7 to 11 times in the last year

9.     3 to 6 times in the last year

10.  1 or 2 times in the last year

99.  Unknown

In all frequency tables, 99 means an unknown amount and missing frequencies mean non-applicable as the respondents are either non-drinkers or former drinkers.

Do people with higher or lower incomes consume more alcohol?

For my project I decided to compare drinking habits among those with different household incomes. I am using the data from the U.S. National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). I have asked myself the question "Do people with higher or lower incomes consume more alcohol?" Before I had done research of other research on the topic, I had assumed that low income households would be more frequent drinkers, due to the stress and anxiety that comes from the burden of poverty. However, through looking at other papers I have searched through have concluded that people who live in higher income homes, drink more frequently. For example Ormond G. and  Murphy R. wrote in their paperthat "...the household income of drinkers is higher than that of non-drinkers and of those who never drank." In my project I will chart how closely related income and alcohol use are, using data collected from items such as "Total Family Income in Last 12 Months", "How Often Drank Any Alcohol in Last 12 Months", "Number of Drinks of Any Alcohol Consumed on Days when Drank Alcohol in Last 12 Months", "How Often Drank 5+ Drinks of any Alcohol in Last 12 Months". I will also look into related fields such as "Ever Sought Help Because of Drinking", "Drank Alcohol to Avoid Specific Phobia in Last 12 Months". I would like to explore this hypothesis of high income households being more frequent drinkers, to see if they are also likely drinking because of anxiety problems.

• Ormond, G., & Murphy, R. (2016). The effect of alcohol consumption on household income in Ireland. Alcohol, 56, 39-49. doi:10.1016/j.alcohol.2016.10.003 

• Galea, S., Ahern, J., Tracy, M., & Vlahov, D. (2007). Neighborhood Income and Income Distribution and the Use of Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Marijuana. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32(6). doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2007.04.003

• Anxiety and drinking behavior: Moderating effects of alcohol-related expectancies. (1992). Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 42(2), 378. doi:10.1016/0091-3057(92)90619-q