OBJECTIVE: To assess the strength of the relationship between alcohol consumption and job strain experienced by professional musicians.

METHODS: Cross-sectional survey among professional orchestra musicians (n=1,550, response rate 41%, data available for 590 respondents). The difference between groups with and without job strain was assessed by two-way analysis of variance.

RESULTS: The median alcohol consumption was 48 g/wk (range 1-648, IQR 12-96). There were only 25 (4%) heavy drinkers, defined as people who consume >210 g of pure alcohol a week. The average frequency of drinking was 2.1 times/wk (SD 2.0, range 0-7). Of the respondents, 125 (21%) reported an elevated level of job strain as defined by the responses to Job Content Questionnaire. There was no significant interaction between the effects of gender and job strain on alcohol consumption: F(1, 586) = 0.82, p=0.365. Simple main effects analysis showed that males were consuming alcohol significantly more than females were (p=0.0005), but there were no differences between participants with elevated level of job strain compared with the rest of the sample (p=0.546).

CONCLUSIONS: The amount of alcohol consumed was not associated with the presence or absence of perceived occupational strain among professional orchestra musicians.