Under the Influence? Drugs and the American Work Force (1994) / Chapter Skim
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Part II: Effects of Use
Part II: Effects of Use
Pages 105-174
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From page 107... ...
The workplace is thus an obvious site for user-focused interventions. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF LABORATORY STUDIES This societal perspective is seldom used to justify programs to reduce or eliminate drug use by the work force, and there may be constitutional problems with workplace drug-testing programs aimed predominantly at this goal.
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From page 108... ...
A second goal of laboratory research on drug effects is to develop reliable measures of the acute impairment associated with drug use. To date, the most commonly used method for identifying drug use by the work force relies on urinalysis to detect the presence of drugs or their metabolites.
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From page 109... ...
(0.132- 1.32 ml) postural stability divided attention reaction time tapping cancellation reaction time mpaired mpaired .
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From page 110... ...
Complex reaction time: subjects required to respond differentially to a change in stimulus conditions. Time estimation: subjects required to give time estimations.
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From page 111... ...
Moreover, with few exceptions, no attempt has been made to model the specific task used to measure impairment after specific workplace performances, and multiple variations on similar tasks make generalization across studies difficult. To further complicate the picture, there has been little effort to model the subject population in laboratory studies after the work force population.
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From page 112... ...
Since the problems that alcohol use poses for transportation safety are well recognized, it has received substantial attention from the transportation research community. As with other laboratory studies, the magnitude of impairment in transportation-related tasks has been shown to be dependent on the nature of the task, research subject characteristics (e.g., skill level, tolerance)
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From page 113... ...
Residual Drug Effects Although residual effects can refer to any effects that occur a number of hours after major drug effects have dissipated, this has come to mean next-day effects or hangover effects. The issue here is whether substances used at home on one day affect job performance the next day.
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From page 114... ...
The data for marijuana are less clear. A number of laboratory studies have been carried out in which research subjects were given marijuana cigarettes to smoke, or li9-THC to consume, repeatedly for 10-30 days.
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From page 115... ...
METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES Where laboratory conditions are different from the conditions that characterize actual drug use, drug users, and job performance, there is a question of how far one can generalize from laboratory results to predict the actual implications of drug use that are of interest (Berkowitz and Donnerstein, 1982; Dipboye and Flanahan, 1979, Locke, 1986; Sears, 1986; Sackett and Larson, 1991~. This is the external validity problem.
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From page 116... ...
Epidemiologic studies are necessary to help define the populations at risk, the substances most generally used, and the environments in which they are most likely to be used. Data from such statistics can then feed into laboratory research.
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From page 117... ...
By comparing drug effects across multiple dimensions of human behavior, it was possible to ascertain a behavioral profile of each drums action. In addition this design addresses the risk factors dis _ _ .
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From page 118... ...
LIMITS AND REALITIES OF LABORATORY STUDIES There are no studies that provide direct estimates of the effects of drug use on job performance or on behavior in organizations. As is often the
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From page 119... ...
and a number of work behaviors, but they lack the controls needed to allow researchers to isolate specific drug effects. Difficulties in generalizing from behavioral research are by no means unique to research on the impact of drugs in the workplace; these same issues emerge in virtually any area of research that involves human behavior.
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From page 120... ...
tasks as well as novel tasks. Laboratory studies often require subjects to perform in isolation, whereas job performance is usually carried out in a social setting.
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From page 121... ...
Finally, laboratory studies are usually limited in scope, and subjects often know the approximate time span of the study. It may be easier to maintain maximal performance levels, or to adopt strategies to mitigate the effects of drugs on performance, in tasks whose duration is known (and is short)
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From page 122... ...
Therefore, it is important that research in this area incorporate usage information collected in epidemiologic or other laboratory studies so that we can optimize the utility of the data being collected in performance testing for predicting decrements in workplace performance. Future research, using more standardized protocols and
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From page 123... ...
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS · Laboratory studies of the effects of alcohol and other drugs on behavior have shown inconsistent results. These differences may be due, in part, to differences in the populations tested, the measurements used, and the range of drug doses administered.
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From page 124... ...
Burns, M 1992 Alcohol and drug effects on performance.
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Foltin, R.W., and S.M. Evans 1992 Performance Effects of Drugs of Abuse: A Methodological Survey.
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King, and M.W. Fischman 1993 The effects of repeated diazepam exposure on multiple measures of human behavior.
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From page 127... ...
Dubowski 1983 Variability in blood alcohol concentrations. Journal of Studies in Alcohol 44:222230.
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From page 128... ...
Leirer 1986 Hangover effects on aircraft pilots 14 hours after alcohol ingestion: a preliminary report. American Journal of Psychiatry 1546-1550.
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From page 129... ...
. But observational field studies, like controlled laboratory studies, have potentially serious limitations as a means of obtaining true estimates of the effects of alcohol and other drugs on job-related outcomes.
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From page 130... ...
Alternatively, alcohol and other drug use, absenteeism, and carelessness on the job might all result from a rejection of conventional social standards, in which case, attitude change rather then the coerced abstinence from alcohol and other drugs might be the key to better job performance. Links Between Deviance, Alcohol and Other Drug Use, and Work Behavior Researchers have found that measures of alcohol and other drug use (both bioassay and self-report measures)
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From page 131... ...
Problem behavior theory, developed by Jessor and Jessor (1977, 1978) , sees alcohol and other drug use as only one aspect of a deviance-prone lifestyle, particularly in adolescents and young adults (who represent the majority of those likely to use illicit drugs in or in connection with the workplace)
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From page 132... ...
Nevertheless, it is possible that some of the observed alcohol and other drug use/work behavior correlations are due to the direct effects of these drugs on judgment, coordination, vigilance, overall health, and other variables. Third, impairment may lead to changes in work behavior (C)
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From page 133... ...
Because there are no studies that directly examine the impacts of alcohol and other drug use on work force performance, we must examine the cumulative evidence from laboratory and field studies, each of which examines some facets of the possible connections between alcohol and other drugs and work, to make inferences about the overall impact of their use. For example, to the extent that laboratory studies demonstrate alcohol- and other drug-induced impairment on tasks that are essentially similar to those encountered on the job, it is reasonable to infer the possibility of workplace impairment from the consumption of the studied drugs.
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From page 134... ...
Postal Service (Normand and Salyards, 1989; Normand et al., 1990) showed after 1.3 years of employment that employees who had tested positive for illicit drug use at the time they were hired had a mean absence rate of 6.6 percent of hours worked, which was 60 percent higher then the mean absence rate of 4.1 percent for employees who tested negative for drugs at the time of hire.
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From page 135... ...
heavy alcohol users who either drank frequently or experienced negative outcomes due to drinking but did not use illicit drugs; and (3) illicit drug users who reported at least some use of any illicit drug in the last year.
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From page 136... ...
(1990) Postal service hires Postal service hires in Boston Municipal employees Utah Power and Light employees Georgia Power Company employee testing positive and negative on drug tests Traffic fatalities in 15 states Commercial vehicle fatalities 182 fatally injured truck drivers Mandatory postaccident testing for railroad accidents
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From page 137... ...
In 26.8% of fatal accidents and 16.3% of nonfatal accidents, at least one employee involved in accident tested positive for illicit drug; marijuana 62~o of positives, cocaine 20%, alcohol 9%, in one-third of positive events, drugs or alcohol were factors in accident. continued
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From page 138... ...
(1990) 459 deaths at work in Alberta, Canada 207 fatal work-related accidents in Harris County, Texas 1,740 randomly sampled, employed adults in New England 1,325 municipal workers Utah Power and Light Company Postal service applicants in Boston
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From page 139... ...
11% had detectable alcohol with 4% over 0.08%; marijuana found in 8.5%, prescription drugs found in 8.5%, when alcohol present, 65% of deaths result of motor vehicle accident or getting caught in or under an object compared with 47% when alcohol not present. Alcohol found in 13.3% with BACs over 0.10% for 9.2%; only one illicit drug found; 7% tested positive for prescription drugs that could have altered key functions such as reaction time or coordination.
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From page 140... ...
(1988) Young adults followed up in Los Angeles 376 middle-class, white adults in longitudinal study Job satisfaction Mangione and Quinn (1975)
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From page 141... ...
Marijuana positive 1.6 times higher turnover than drug negatives and 2 times as high involuntary turnover. Concurrent use of marijuana, other illicit drugs, and daily drinking associated with reduction of job tenure; drug effects more likely to lead to job loss rather than job change.
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From page 142... ...
(1992) 9,175 employees from 47 organizations 1,325 municipal employees 1,327 wage and salaried workers Young adults followed-up in Los Angeles 1,325 municipal employees 1,081 municipal employees 136 employed men Postal service applicants 1,325 municipal employees
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From page 143... ...
Drug use significant predictor of physical withdrawal behaviors, and antagonistic psychological and behaviors. Illicit drug users more likely than alcohol users who were more likely than nonusers to engage in variety of negative work behaviors.
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From page 144... ...
Their data on absenteeism were less consistent than in other studies. Employees who tested positive on company drug tests were compared with employees testing negative.
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From page 145... ...
Because of the special significance of alcohol and other drug use and accidents in the transportation industry, we review the literature on accidents in transportation first, followed by a discussion on the evidence of alcohol and other drug use and accidents in other industries. (For a more detailed treatment of the transportation literature, the reader is referred to Alcohol and Other Drugs In Transportation: Research Needs for the Next Decade (Transportation Research Board, 19931.
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From page 146... ...
146 C~ :: ¢ o o o ._ o ~: U: se ._ s: Ct C~ 4 a; ._ ¢ o ._ Ct °c Cq s:: Ct 50 E~ C~ L~ ¢ E~ .
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147 can ~.
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From page 148... ...
reported on a study of truck drivers from 182 heavy-truck crashes in which the driver was fatally injured. One-third of drivers tested positive for illicit drugs.
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From page 149... ...
Moreover, as Chapter 4 makes clear, while performance decrements attributable to alcohol emerge clearly in laboratory studies, decrements attributable to marijuana are harder to find. An analysis of the drug testing program of the Southern Pacific Railroad (Taggart, 1989)
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From page 150... ...
Seven percent of the workers tested positive for prescription drugs that could have altered key functions, such as reaction time or the coordination needed to prevent injury. In neither study of fatal injuries do the authors show that the presence of alcohol or drugs was causally related to the fatal accidents?
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From page 151... ...
Information on alcohol and other drug use, accidents, personal background, and job characteristics and background was collected via self-report survey of 1,325 randomly selected employees. Measures of use included lifetime use of any illicit substance, alcohol consumption away from work, illicit drug use in the last year, and use of alcohol or illicit drugs at work in the last year.
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From page 152... ...
Blank and Fenton (1989) collected data on 1,052 naval recruits who were tested for marijuana and other illicit drugs before entering the Navy.
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From page 153... ...
Three patterns of drug use were investigated, including daily alcohol use, monthly use of marijuana, and monthly use of other illicit drugs. Job mobility was examined as job separations, job changes, and job losses.
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From page 154... ...
However, job satisfaction is an important workrelated variable that has been associated with a variety of other work outcomes, such as intentions to quit, turnover, and job performance. Mangione and Quinn (1975)
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From page 155... ...
found that alcohol and other drug users were more likely than nonusers to engage in counterproductive behaviors. In Mar~gione and Quinn's study, men over age 30 who reported using illicit drugs at work were more likely than their nonusing counterparts to engage in such deviant behaviors as spreading rumors or gossip, intentionally doing poor work, stealing merchandise or equipment, not reporting accidentally damaged equipment or merchandise, and damaging equipment or merchandise on purpose.
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From page 156... ...
Examination of bivariate relationships between the work behavior factors and alcohol and other drug use indicated that employees reporting alcohol or other drug use at work, illicit drug use in the last year, lifetime illicit drug use, or heavy alcohol use tended to engage in more frequent psychological and physical withdrawal and antagonistic behaviors. There were no differences between user groups on positive work behaviors, except that employees who reported lifetime illicit drug use reported slightly higher levels of positive work behaviors than did employees who never used illicit drugs.
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From page 157... ...
Those who tested positively for illicit drugs at the time they were hired also showed significantly higher utilization of medical benefits than those who tested negative. Comparisons between positives and negatives indicated that, compared with negatives, positives were 1.7 times as likely to be above the median on the total number of claims filed, 1.9 times as likely to be above the median on the total dollar amount of their claims, and 3.4 times as likely to file claims involving alcohol or other drug-related diagnoses (Salyards, 19931.
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From page 158... ...
Despite the wide variety of research in the studies reviewed above, few definitive statements can be made about the impact of using alcohol and other drugs on job performance. The abundance of evidence presented here indicates that the relationship between use and job behaviors and outcomes is clearly negative.
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From page 159... ...
Most employees do not abuse illicit drugs or alcohol, most employees do not have accidents at work, and most employees do not abuse absence policies. Thus, finding consistent relationships between relatively rare events such as alcohol and other drug abuse and accidents requires a carefully designed study with a large sample size and reliable measures a difficult task indeed.
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From page 160... ...
Our current understanding of the area is limited, and much more research needs to be done. PRODUCTIVITY COSTS OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG USE The field studies reviewed above have attempted to assess the causal link between alcohol and other drug use and work-related behavior.
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From page 161... ...
They compare the income of illicit drug users and nonusers to determine the reduction in income due to illicit drug use. Personal characteristics such as age, sex, and education are commonly controlled in making these comparisons.
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From page 162... ...
of individuals (or households) who use illicit drugs or alcohol with the wage rates (or income)
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From page 163... ...
(1981) , use 1979 National Household Survey data from NIAAA to show that most available indicators of problem drinking are negatively correlated with household income (controlling for other characteristics)
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From page 164... ...
(1990) state that results based on the use of particular illicit drugs were ill defined and therefore do not report any details.
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From page 165... ...
(1990) show that alcohol abuse is more negatively correlated with household income for men than women up through age 34, after which the relation reverses, and that illicit drug abuse is negatively correlated with household income for men of all ages but positively correlated for women of all ages.
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From page 166... ...
(1992) , using the 1990 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, examine the prevalence of illicit drug use by work status and the relation between illicit drug use and measures of labor supply: weeks worked during the past year, number of sick days taken during the past month, and number of days of work skipped for nonmedical reasons during the past month.
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From page 167... ...
Therefore, adolescent heavy alcohol or other drug users may be expected to earn higher incomes than less heavy users as young adults, since they will have been in the work force for 4 years while those less involved in drugs continued their education. In a follow-up of this same sample, Newcomb and gentler (1992)
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From page 168... ...
Spousal income is commonly treated as such a variable, but Gill and Michaels (1992) demonstrate that the spouses of alcohol and other drug users typically have low income.
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From page 169... ...
Recommendation: To intervene more effectively in improving job performance, we must develop a better research base from which to assess how alcohol and other drug use and other factors act alone and in combination to degrade job performance. · Widely cited cost estimates of the effects of alcohol and other drug use on U.S.
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From page 170... ...
Jones 1981 Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Mental Illne~is-1977, Research Triangle Jn,;titute, Research Triangle Park N.C. Donovan, J.E., and R
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From page 171... ...
Holcom, and D.D. Simpson 1990a Employee Health and Performance in the Workplace: A Survey of Municipal Employees of a Large Southwest City.
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From page 172... ...
Salyards 1989 An empirical evaluation of preemployment drug testing in the United States Postal Service: interim report of findings.
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From page 173... ...
Salyards, S.D. 1993 Preemployment drug testing: associations with EAP, disciplinary, and medical claims information.
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