Psychosocial health and hazardous alcohol use among older adults with Rose Laing

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Rose Laing, a PhD candidate at the Monash Addiction Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia. The interview covers Rose’s article on psychosocial health and hazardous alcohol use among 50- to 70-year-olds in south-east Melbourne, Australia.

• Psychosocial health and the motivation to look at the relationship between psychosocial health and alcohol use [01:00]
• Why 50–70-year-olds are an important population for studying this topic [03:03]
• The methods used in the study [03:43]
• What is Latent Profile Analysis [04:50]
• The four profiles found in the Latent Profile Analysis [06:24]
• Socialising and drinking alcohol at the time of retirement [07:42]
• The key findings in terms of alcohol use outcomes [08:12]
• Rose’s interpretation of the ‘socially connected poor mental health’ group having the greatest probability of hazardous use [09:15]
• What we can do with Rose’s findings [10:56]
• The take home messages [12:40]
• The next steps for the Beyond 50 study [14:02]

About Elle Wadsworth: Elle is an academic fellow with the Society for the Study of Addiction. She is based at the University of Bath with the Addiction and Mental Health Group and her research interests include drug policy, cannabis legalisation, and public health. Elle holds a voluntary role at The Loop, a non-profit service provider of drug checking in the UK.

About Rose Laing: Rose is a researcher and PhD candidate at the Monash Addiction Research Centre at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Her work focuses on the intersection of population health, ageing and substance use. Her PhD program of work centres on the Beyond 50 cohort study, which is investigating how physical and mental health, social wellbeing, and substance use in adults aged 50 to 70 years can impact individuals’ ability to age healthily. Rose's thesis is investigating the relationship between social isolation, loneliness and alcohol use within this cohort.

Declarations of interest: None

Original article: Psychosocial health and hazardous alcohol use among 50- to 70-year-olds: A cross-sectional latent profile analysis in south-east Melbourne, Australia https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70603

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