SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Substance Abuse (Drug and Alcohol) in Food Service Industry

Substance Abuse (Drug and Alcohol) in Food Service Industry

Introduction

Alcohol and illicit substance use is a common problem in the food service industry. Nationwide statistics in the United States demonstrate that food service employees are among the most high-risk individuals for such use (Ames, Grube, 1999). Beyond adverse health effects to the individual, alcohol and illicit substance use has a detrimental impact on the organization. Across a variety of occupational groups, employee alcohol and illicit substance use has been found to adversely affect attendance, productivity, retention, and accidents and injury.

Given the prevalence of alcohol and illicit substance use in food service, research is warranted to examine factors associated with such use in this segment of the workforce (Ames, Grube, 1999). Research in this area has been limited, however. To extend such research, the present study examines self-selection into food service based on previous substance use and potential risk factors for substance use that have not been examined in previous research with a generalized national sample. It should be noted that hereafter the terms alcohol and illicit substance use and substance use will be used interchangeably (Ames, Grube, 1999).

Research Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1: Individuals with greater pre-employment alcohol and illicit substance use will more likely be subsequently employed in the food service industry than in lower substance use industries.

Hypothesis 2: Cumulative experience in the food service industry will be positively related to alcohol and illicit substance use.

Hypothesis 3: Bartenders will engage in greater alcohol use than other employees.

Hypothesis 4: Employees who earn tips will engage in greater alcohol and illicit substance use than those who do not receive tips.

Hypothesis 5: Employees who work evening shifts will engage in greater alcohol and illicit substance use than those who do not.

Hypothesis 6: Food service employees who hold more than one job will engage in greater alcohol and illicit substance use.

Hypothesis Testing

The hypothesis will be tested using the multinomial logistic regression.

Results and Findings

Hypothesis 1: For an extra day a person engaged in binge drinking the odds of his or her working in food service contrasted with the ones working in a low-use industry, increased by 5.37%. For each extra day a person occupied in marijuana use, the odds augmented by 1.41%. For each extra day a person who used alcohol reduced the odds by 2.33%.

Hypothesis 2 suggested that cumulative experience in the food service industry ...