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This paper examines the relationship between alcohol use and tendencies toward depression and anxiety among Americans and West Germans. It was found that anxiety was not significant in promoting drinking, although depression was associated with alcohol use for Americans only. Nevertheless, the West Germans consumed more alcohol than Americans, and this study suggests that culture underlies the difference in alcohol consumption.

This paper examines whether American males with a high degree of control over their work situation pursue healthy lifestyles and rate their physical health more positively than those who score low on occupational self-direction. That is, are persons who control their work more likely to also try to control their health through living in a particularly healthy manner? We found that there was no support for a spillover effect from high occupational self-direction to enhanced participation in health lifestyles or more positive self-rated health. The findings suggest health lifestyles have spread throughout occupational work groups in the U.S. and support research that maintains such lifestyles have spread across social strata in America.