Substance use for restaurant servers: Causes and effects

Restaurant industry employees have historically exhibited a high tendency toward substance use. To address this phenomenon, this study aimed to assess if a restaurant front-of-house server's work stress contributes to alcohol and illicit substance use. Specifically, it was hypothesized that a server's role stress (conflict and ambiguity) would stimulate substance use. Also, this study tested the impact of substance use on job and life satisfaction, and the moderating effect of self-control on the relationship between role stress and substance use. The results demonstrated that role ambiguity had a positive influence on substance use. Servers' drug use had a positive influence on job satisfaction, but no significant influence was found for alcohol use. As hypothesized, job satisfaction significantly increased life satisfaction. Lastly, self-control moderated the relationship between role stress and substance use. Detailed results and implications of the findings are provided in the main body of this paper.