Which are those professions with the highest alcoholism rates in US? Where does the US stand on this matter in the global picture? Let’s find out.
According to the World Health Organization, alcohol use in the Americas (which includes South America and Canada as well though) is about 40% higher than the global average. Also in the past 7 or 8 years alcoholism rate in Americas has risen from 4.6 to 13.0% in women and 17.9 to 29.4% on men. From the same resource, we have found out that the average adult alcohol consumption per capita of pure alcohol in liters in the USA was 4.9 for women and 13.6 for men in period 2008-2010. These are alarming figures, but among them, which are the professions with the highest alcoholism rates in the US? We are going to see that a bit later.
Alcoholism is one of the biggest health problems in the US, being constantly on the rise, and lately even more among women than among men as we have seen. Together with the alcoholism, depression is also among the top problems if not the worst one, since it is leading to many kinds of mental problems and hard life decisions, such as divorces (and since we are here, take a look at the 11 Professions with the Highest Divorce Rates) or suicides on that matter (and you can check out which the 25 States with the Highest Suicide Rates in America are). Depression is caused by many factors including life stresses, emotional insecurities, and difficult situations. Certainly, a lot of impact on the mental and emotional state is the job. Some jobs are more stressful than others, or maybe some people just cannot find themselves in their professions: too many obligations, expectations, unhealthy working environment, etc. are just some of the factors that can cause depression. But there are some jobs that are causing more depression than others, as you can see in 15 Professions with the Highest Depression Rates in America.
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Yet, it is not easy to answer the question of what profession drinks the most alcohol, and on one hand simply because we are talking about people here, and everybody is different in the sense of capability to cope with stresses and other job problems. Generally, individual factors are decisive if somebody is going to become alcoholic, such as level of education, level of social skills, enduring in stressful situations, coping with deadlines, responsibilities, high level of dangers (jobs involving guns or working on heights or mines for example) and other working environment pressures. So, overall, the more stressful the job, the more likely for that profession to have a greater percentage of alcoholics.
And as we have said, some professions are more prone to alcoholism than others, comparing for example teachers and alcoholism and accountants and alcoholism. It seems that teachers are much less prone to become alcoholics the accountant, having one-third of all accountants in the survey in the UK heavily drinking. Although there are many teachers who drink as well, since they have a very responsible job, it is probably the constant stress of accountants working environment that makes them drink more.
Some of the main guidelines about the professions with the highest alcoholism rates in the US we got by going through sites specialized in addiction and alcohol issues such as Addiction Center, Drug Rehab, and Alcohol Treatment. Then we have also checked some more mainstream sources like Washington Post or CNN. But probably the most precise and reliable information was provided by the SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) from the survey conducted by them in order to get statistical information on alcohol and drug use by industries. It is reliable, yes, and it also has some clear figures, but it generally encompasses fields of industry rather than professions with the highest alcoholism rates in US, which is what we are looking for here. That is why we did not rank the professions here by the percentage of alcoholics: we simply did not have a universal ranking data based on the same criteria.
So, since many professions have high rates of alcoholism, it is a normal thing that some of these people get help, and after the rehab, they want to get another job and incorporate in society again. So then, looking for good jobs for alcoholics should be those with regular working hours, routine tasks, clear expectations, accepting and pleasant co-workers and environment.
Alcoholism raises many other topics since reasons and causes of it are correlated with the substance use and depression as we have noted earlier which leads to many kinds of mental disorders and enervation of the health in general. So we could open many other discussions now, on depression, on professions with highest drug use, etc. but more on that some other time. Let’s focus now on alcoholism and proceed to the list of the profession with the highest alcoholism rates in US.
18. Dentists
Many medical professions seem to have a problem with alcoholism, and research has shown that dentists are among one of the top medical professions with the highest rates of alcoholism in US.
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17. Business Managers
Having great responsibility and the whole company to keep on going, business managers are exposed to much stress on their work. That is why alcoholism rates are high among business managers.
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16. Foresters
This is one example of jobs with high isolation and high depression rates which lead to consumption of alcohol in huge amounts.
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15. Truck Drivers
Long periods of time spent alone far from families, tense schedule and vast distances are some of the reasons why truck drivers belong to those professions with the highest alcoholism rates in US.
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14. Entertainment Jobs
Entertainment jobs on film, television or stage require constant dealing with people and not having enough privacy in general. That is one of the reasons why this is one of the professions with the highest alcoholism rates in US.
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13. Maintenance Workers
Whether it is working environment, low salary or some other reason, it seems that those working in the maintenance seem to be among those whose profession has the highest alcoholism rate in US.
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12. Police Officers
It maybe sounds ironic, with policemen having a duty to control and prevent alcohol abuse on one hand, and being on this list on another. But, since the job they have is risky, very stressful and very responsible, a lot of policemen tend to drink more than regular population, researchers have shown.
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11. Salesmen
The job of a salesman is a stressful one because you never know what tomorrow brings. Worrying about the future flow of the work sometimes seems too much, and salesmen often use alcohol, or other substances in order to calm their thoughts.
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10. Journalists
Journalist job however exciting and creative may sound seems to be the among professions with the highest alcoholism rates in US. Reasons for that are stress, irregular schedules, constant deadlines and other employer’s requests.
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9. Hosts and Hotel Workers
These professions which deal with constant communication with people, being always at their service seem to be among the top drinkers in the US. The job requires constant politeness and dealing with all kinds of requests, which makes a lot of stress that has to be surprised, and a lot of hosts and hotel workers find relief in alcohol or drugs.
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8. Cooks
Cooks are among those professions with the highest alcoholism rates in US, and that trend is especially seen among the younger population of workers.
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7. Military
Research has shown that the alcoholism rate among those working in the military is high because of the great responsibilities, risks, and stresses their jobs have and require. Apart from that often deployments are one of the main reasons for the excessive alcohol use among military professions.
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6. Waste Management Employees
Those working in waste management industry also seem to be among the top drinkers in the USA. One in 10 workers in waste management has problems with drinking and also high drug use.
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5. Surgeons
Among all medical professions, surgeons have the highest rate of alcoholism, with around 15 percent of surgeons having a problem with alcohol.
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4. Bartenders
Bartenders are surely among the professions with the highest alcoholism rates in US, and everywhere else it seems so.
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3. Construction Workers
With construction workers, we encompass professions such are roofers, steelworkers, laborers, carpenters, drillers, construction managers, but we did not single out any of those in particular because of the same working environment they are all affected by. Since it is a very stressful environment, many construction workers drink much. Of them, 16.5 percent are heavy drinkers.
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2. Miners
Mining surely is one of the most stressful jobs having in mind the working environment and dangers that it carries. The survey of SAMHSA that we have mentioned, puts mining industry at the top professions with highest alcoholism rate, with 17.5 percent.
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1. Lawyers
Research has shown that around 20.6% of lawyers have a drinking problem which is much higher than the nation’s average and which makes them at the top of professions with the highest alcoholism rates in US. It also seems that alcoholism rate of 25.1 percent in female lawyers is much higher than in male lawyers (15.5).
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