Date of Award

Winter 2001

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Committee Director

Robert M. McIntyre

Committee Member

William S. Fals-Stewart

Committee Member

Michelle L. Kelley

Committee Member

Debra a. Major

Abstract

This investigation examined the conditional day-to-day relationship between alcohol use and workplace absenteeism among participants (N = 302) employed full-time in one of three large companies located in the northeastern U.S. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather information from employees on their daily use of alcohol and other drugs during a 1-month period. Employees' absenteeism and work injury data during the same target time period were gathered from personnel files residing in the companies' human resources departments. The presence of a current alcohol use disorder also was determined. The following primary hypotheses were tested: (a) there would be a significant conditional relationship between alcohol use and workplace absence the following day, and (b) workplace absence would be more likely on days after heavy drinking than on days after nonheavy drinking. This investigation also explored: (a) whether the presence of an alcohol use disorder influences the day-to-day conditional relationship between alcohol use and subsequent workplace absence; (b) the conditional relationship between employees' use of psychoactive substances, other than alcohol, and workplace absence the following day; (c) the day-to-day relationship between alcohol consumption during working hours and the occurrence of workplace injury; and (d) the day-to-day conditional relationship between alcohol consumption and workplace absence among different classifications (e.g., executives, administrators, skilled laborers) of employees. The findings support the primary hypotheses. There was a significant conditional day-to-day relationship between alcohol use and workplace absence the following day. Those who engaged in any drinking the day before a scheduled workday were roughly 1.5 times more likely to be absent than on a day after no drinking. Moreover, workplace absence was more likely on days after heavy drinking than on days after non-heavy drinking. Those who engaged in heavy drinking 1 day before a scheduled workday were 1.7 times more likely to be absent the next day. Results indicate no relationship between non-heavy drinking 1 day before a scheduled workday and workplace absence. In addition, drinking was not associated with workplace absence when alcohol was consumed 2 days before a scheduled workday. The exploratory hypotheses were not supported.

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DOI

10.25777/hwfe-d482

ISBN

9780493565187

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