Relationship Between Alcohol Use Disorder and Unemployment Among the Youth in Dandora Uprising, Nairobi, Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70619/vol6iss3pp55-71-833Keywords:
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), unemployment, Youth in Dandora UprisingAbstract
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and youth unemployment are major social and public health challenges affecting young people globally and in Kenya, where youth constitute the largest proportion of the population. Informal settlements such as Dandora Uprising are characterized by poverty, unstable livelihoods, and high unemployment levels, conditions that may predispose youth to alcohol abuse. This study sought to determine the prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorder among youth, assess the severity of youth unemployment, and investigate the relationship between unemployment and AUD among youth in Dandora Uprising, Nairobi County, Kenya. The study was guided by Social Stress Theory and Psychoanalytic Theory and adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey research design. Through systematic random sampling, 172 youth aged 18–35 years were selected to participate in the study. Data were collected using an unemployment and job-search questionnaire alongside the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23, employing descriptive and inferential statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, correlations, and chi-square analyses. The findings revealed that 47% of the respondents were unemployed, indicating a high prevalence of youth unemployment in Dandora Uprising. The prevalence of AUD was 21.48%, with severe AUD accounting for 12.08% of respondents. The study further established that prolonged unemployment, anxiety, depression, and unstable employment experiences were associated with higher AUDIT scores. However, the chi-square test revealed no statistically significant association between employment status and AUD (χ² = 0.37, p > 0.05). The study concludes that although employment status alone was not significantly associated with AUD, prolonged unemployment and its psychological effects increased vulnerability to problematic alcohol use among youth. The study recommends strengthening youth employment initiatives, psychosocial support services, and community-based alcohol prevention and intervention programs in informal settlements.
References
Aaron O'Neill (2024). Youth unemployment rate in selected world regions 2022. Derived from https://www.statista.com/statistics/269640/youth-unemployment-rate-in-selected-world-regions/
Airagnes, G.; Lemogne, C.; Meneton, P.; Plessz, M.; Goldberg, M.; Hoertel, N.; Roquelaure, Y.; Limosin, F.; Zins, M. Alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use are associated with job loss at follow-up: Findings from the CONSTANCES cohort. PLoS ONE 2019, 14, e0222361.
Anderson, C. (2022). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Alcohol Addiction. American AddictionCenters.
Andersson, L. M. C., Twum-Antwi, A., Staland-Nyman, C., & van Rooyen, D. R. M. (2018). Prevalence and socioeconomic characteristics of alcohol disorders among men and women in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Health & Social Care in the Community, 26(1), e143–e153. doi:10.1111/hsc.12487
Anyanwu, O. U., Ibekwe, R. C., & Ojinnaka, N. C. (2016). Pattern of substance abuse among adolescent secondary school students in Abakaliki. Cogent Medicine, 3(1), 1272160. doi:10.1080/2331205x.2016.1272160
Arria, A.M.; Garnier-Dykstra, L.M.; Cook, E.T.; Caldeira, K.M.; Vincent, K.B.; Baron, R.A.; O’Grady, K.E. Drug use patterns in young adulthood and post-college employment. Drug. Alcohol. Depend. 2013, 127, 23–30.
Ashiku, A. (2014). Determinant of the effectiveness of the youth enterprise development fund in Gilgil Sub-County. Nakuru County, Kenya; Nairobi, Kenya.
Ba, A.-H. O., P., & Okagua, J. (2014). Prevalence of alcohol consumption among secondary school students in Port Harcourt, Southern Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Paediatrics, 42, 39–45.
Backhans, M. C., Lundin, A., & Hemmingsson, T. (2012). Binge drinking - a predictor for or a consequence of unemployment? Alcoholism. Clinical and Experimental Research, 36, 1983–1990.
Bauld, L., Carroll, C., Hay, G., & McKell, J. (2010). Alcohol misusers’ experiences of employment and the benefit system. London.
Beard, E., Brown, J., West, R., Kaner, E., Meier, P., & Michie, S. (2019). Associations between socioeconomic factors and alcohol consumption: A population survey of adults in England. PLoS One, 14(2), e0209442
Boden, J. M., Lee, J. O., Horwood, L. J., Grest, C. V., & McLeod, G. F. (2017). Modelling possible causality in the associations between unemployment, cannabis use, and alcohol misuse. Social Science & Medicine, 175, 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. socscimed.2017.01.001
Brisibe, S., & Ordinioha, B. (2011). Socio-demographic characteristics of alcohol abusers in a rural Ijaw community in Bayelsa State, South-South Nigeria. Annals of African Medicine, 10(2), 97–102. doi:10.4103/1596-3519.82066
Brydsten, A., Hammarström, A., & San Sebastian, M. (2018). Health inequalities between employed and unemployed in northern Sweden: a decomposition analysis of social determinants for mental health. International Journal for Equity in Health, 17(1). doi:10.1186/s12939-018-0773-5
Butler, A. B., Dodge, K. D., & Faurote, E. J. (2010). College student employment and drinking: a daily study of work stressors, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol consumption. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(3), 291–303. doi:10.1037/a0019822
Falk, G., Romero, P. D., Nicchitta, I. A., & Nyhot, E. C. (2021). Unemployment Rate During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Congressional Research Service.
Federation of Kenya Employers. (2025).Youth employment. https://www.fke-kenya.org/policy-issues/youth-employment
Ferreira-Borges, C., Rehm, J., Dias, S., Babor, T., & Parry, C. D. H. (2016). The impact of alcohol consumption on African people in 2012: an analysis of burden of disease. Tropical Medicine & International Health: TM & IH, 21(1), 52–60. doi:10.1111/tmi.12618
Frech, A. (2014). Pathways to adulthood and changes in health-promoting behaviors. Advances in Life Course Research, 19, 40–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. alcr.2013.12.002
French, M. T., Maclean, J. C., Sindelar, J. L., & Fang, H. (2011). The morning after: alcohol misuse and employment problems. Applied Economics, 43(21), 2705–2720. doi:10.1080/00036840903357421
Frone, M. R. (2016). Developing and testing a biphasic self-medication model of work stress and alcohol use. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs,77(5), 749-759. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2016.77.749
Frosh, S. (2016). For and against psychoanalysis. Routledge. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1583917799/
Hamad, R., Brown, D. M., & Basu, S. (2019). The association of county-level socioeconomic factors with individual tobacco and alcohol use: A longitudinal study of U.S. adults. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 390. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019- 6700-x
International Labor Organization (2016A). Unemployment rate. International Conference of Labor Statisticians. Geneva, Switzerland.
Jorgensen, M.B.; Pedersen, J.; Thygesen, L.C.; Lau, C.J.; Christensen, A.I.; Becker, U.; Tolstrup, J.S. Alcohol consumption and labour market participation: A prospective cohort study of transitions between work, unemployment, sickness absence, and social benefits. Eur. J. Epidemiol. 2019, 34, 397–407.
Kalleberg, A. L. (2018). Job insecurity and well-being in rich democracies. The Economic and Social Review, 49(3), 241–258. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31435077
Kamenderi, M., Muteti, J., Okioma, V., Kimani, S., Kanana, F., & Kahiu, C. (2020). Status of Drugs and Substance Abuse in Kenya. Afr J Alcohol Drug Abuse, 1, 54–59.
Katanich, D. (2024, May 3). Where in Europe was unemployment the lowest in March? Retrieved 28 August 2024, from Euronews website: https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/05/03/where-in-europe-was-unemployment-the-lowest-in-march
Kenya Institute of Economic Affairs (2016). Number of the week: 17.1% youth unemployment in Kenya. Available http://www.ieakenya.or.ke/number_of_the_week/number-of-the-week-17-1- youth-unemployment-in-kenya.
Khan, M. R., Young, K. E., Caniglia, E. C., et al. (2020). Association of alcohol screening scores with adverse mental health conditions and substance use among U.S. adults. JAMA Network Open, 3(3), e200895. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.0895
Lantis, R., & Teahan, B. (2018). The effect of unemployment insurance on alcohol use and abuse following job loss. Economics and Human Biology, 30, 92–103. doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2018.06.003
Lee, J. O., Jones, T. M., Kosterman, R., Rhew, I. C., Lovasi, G. S., Hill, K. G., … Hawkins, J. D. (2017). The association of unemployment from age 21 to 33 with substance use disorder symptoms at age 39: The role of childhood neighborhood characteristics. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 174, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. drugalcdep.2017.01.005
Macdonald, Z. & Shields, M. A. (2000). The impact of alcohol consumption on occupational attainment in England. Bonn, Institute for the Study of Labor.
MacDonald, Z., & Shields, M. A. (2004). Does problem drinking affect employment? Evidence from England. Health Economics, 13(2), 139–155. doi:10.1002/hec.816
Mangot-Sala, L., Smidt, N., & Liefbroer, A. C. (2021). The association between unemployment trajectories and alcohol consumption patterns. Evidence from a large prospective cohort in the Netherlands. Advances in Life Course Research, 50(100434), 100434. doi:10.1016/j.alcr.2021.100434
Mncwango, T., & Ndlovu, N. (2024). The impact of unemployment on alcohol consumption. International Journal of Innovative Research in Social Sciences, 2(6), 1-10. http://www.ijirss.com/index.php/ijirss/article/view/3298
Mossakowski K. (2008). Is the duration of poverty and unemployment a risk factor for heavy drinking? Social Science & Medicine, 67(6), 947–955.
Mossakowski, K. (2014). Stress and mental illness. The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of health, illness, behavior, and society (pp. 1461–1465). https://doi.org/10.1002/ 9781118410868.wbehibs455
Mulia, N.; Zemore, S.E.; Murphy, R.; Liu, H.; Catalano, R. Economic loss and alcohol consumption and problems during the 2008 to 2009 U.S. recession. Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 2014, 38, 1026–1034.
Musyoka, C. M., Mbwayo, A., Donovan, D., & Mathai, M. (2020). Alcohol and substance use among first-year students at the University of Nairobi, Kenya: Prevalence and patterns. PloS One, 15(8), e0238170. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0238170
Nolte-Troha, C., Roser, P., Henkel, D., Scherbaum, N., Koller, G., & Franke, A. G. (2023). Unemployment and substance use: An updated review of studies from North America and Europe. Healthcare, 11(8), Article 1182.
Noora, K., Huurre, O., Lintonen, T., Vietanen, T., & Hammarstrom, P. (2018). Association between unemployment and heavy episodes of drinking from adolescence to midlife in Sweden and Finland. European Journal of Public Health, 258–263.
Novak, M. D., Toegel, F., Holtyn, A. F., Rodewald, A. M., Arellano, M., Baranski, M., … Silverman, K. (2023). Abstinence-contingent wage supplements for adults experiencing homelessness and alcohol use disorder: A randomized clinical trial. Preventive Medicine, 176(107655), 107655. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107655
Pampel, F. C., Krueger, P. M., & Denney, J. T. (2010). Socioeconomic disparities in health behaviors. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 349–370. https://doi.org/10.1146/ annurev.soc.012809.102529
Pick, D. (2015). Psychoanalysis: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199226814/
Ravndal, E., & Amundsen, E. J. (2019). Employment trajectories among those treated for alcohol use disorder: A register-based cohort study. Addiction. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15726
Schuring, M., Robroek, S. J. W., Lingsma, H. F., van Lenthe, F. J., & Burdorf, A. (2021). No causal impact of unemployment on depressive symptoms in the TEMPO-OR cohort: Fixed-effects analyses. Social Science & Medicine, 285, 113945.
Sujiv, A., Chinnakali, P., Balajee, K., Lakshminarayanan, S., Kumar, S. G., & Roy, G. (2015). Alcohol use and alcohol use disorder among male outpatients in a primary care setting in rural Puducherry. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 24(2), 135–139. doi:10.4103/0972-6748.181711
Svensson, M., & Hagquist, C. (2010). Adolescents’ alcohol use and economic conditions: a multilevel analysis of data from a period with big economic changes. The European Journal of Health Economics: HEPAC: Health Economics in Prevention and Care, 11(6), 533–541. doi:10.1007/s10198-009-0209-7
Takahashi, R., Wilunda, C., Magutah, K., Mwaura-Tenambergen, W., Wilunda, B., & Perngparn, U. (2017). Correlates of alcohol consumption in rural western Kenya: A cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry, 17(1), 175. doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1344-9
Utap, M. S., Hamid, D., Asrani, N. Y., Sulaiman, N. A., Rahman, S. A., & Ajeng, R. N. (2020). Prevalence of Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Use Disorders among Adult Outpatient Attendees in Urban Primary Care Clinics in Miri Sarawak, East Malaysia | Abstract [Internet]. Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
Venturelli, F., Poscia, A., Carrozzi, G., Sampaolo, L., Bargellini, A., Ricciardi, W., & Magnavita, N. (2017). Prevalence of alcohol abuse among workers in Italy. Med Lav, 15(1), 52–63.
Waithera, L. (2017). Alcohol consumption among youths in Bahati Sub-County. Nakuru County Kenya.
World Health Organization. Global status report on alcohol and health 2018 [Internet]. World Health Organization; 2019. p. 469.https://play.google.com/ store/books/details?id=qnOyDwAAQBAJ.
World Health Organization. Global status report on alcohol and health 2018. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018 [cited 2022 Aug 24]. 450 pp. Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/274603.
Zhang, S. (2020). Psychoanalysis: The influence of Freud’s theory in personality psychology. Proceedings of the International Conference on Mental Health and Humanities Education (ICMHHE 2020). Presented at the International Conference on Mental Health and Humanities Education (ICMHHE 2020), Wuhan, China. doi:10.2991/assehr.k.200425.051
Zins, M., Gueguen, A., M., & Singh-Manoux, A. (2023). Changes in alcohol consumption according to the duration of unemployment: Prospective findings from the French CONSTANCES cohort. BMJ Open, 13, Article e077255
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Josephine Mwende Mutua, Preskilla Ochieng Munda, Samuel Ojuade
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
