Drinking patterns vary throughout the life span (Skog and Duckert, 1993) and these intra-individual variations in drinking patterns have been referred to as the drinking career. Theoretically, it has been argued that drinking patterns can be partly structured by positional roles-.g., employment, marital and parental-that an individual fills (Knibbe, Drop, and Muytjens, 1987; Neve, Lemmens, and Drop, 1997). Since positional roles change over the life span, one can speculate that they can explain the changes in drinking patterns observed in the course of a lifetime. For women this theory has been tested in regard to marital, parental and professional roles. For men, however, it has mainly been tested in regard to employment roles, with little consideration of marital and parental roles, reflecting traditional assumptions about gender role division (Gerson, 1993). Nevertheless, the manner in which positional roles are structured and acted has been deeply transformed in the last few years. The now obvious "revolution in women's employment and family patterns" (Gerson, 1993) has modified not only women's roles but also the manner in which men have come to involve themselves in family life and fulfill the responsibilities of fatherhood. In addition, the transformation of the labor market and, more recently, Quebec's high unemployment rate have all the more affected men's pattern of commitment by changing their connection to employment. It has thus become increasingly important to place as much emphasis on how men's drinking patterns are structured by marital and parental roles as on the effect of employment roles. This paper examines how both family and professional roles structure men's drinking careers. Positional roles Employment status In regard to employment, the results of previous studies are quite debatable. Most studies show that unemployed men drink more frequently and are heavier drinkers than the employed (Crawford et al., 1987; Johnson, 1982; Temple et al., 1991). In addition, Crawford et al. (1987) found that Scottish and English unemployed men, compared with employed men, drink significantly greater amounts of alcohol on their heaviest drinking day, report significantly longer drinking occasions and faster consumption rates, are more likely to report criticism from friends or relatives, and are more likely to report early morning drinking or restlessness/ irritability without a drink. However, based on 10 longitudinal studies from the U.S., Europe and Canada, Temple et al. (1991) reported that chronic unemployment is associated with increased drinking only among young men; among those age 40 or older, it is associated with decreased consumption. On the other hand, in a longitudinal study conducted among 1,980 individuals in the Dutch province of Limburgh, Neve, Lemmens, and Drop (1997) found, on the contrary, that being employed is associated with increased drinking. Their study showed that employed men report higher consumption and frequency of heavy drinking than men who do not hold a job. Marital status Studies on the effects of marriage have clear and homogeneous results: being married is negatively associated with men's drinking. Married men tend to report lower typical quantity per occasion (Celentano and McQueen, 1984; Temple et al., 1991) and less heavy drinking (Neve, Lemmens and Drop, 1997; Parker et al., 1980; Room, 1996; Temple et al., 1991). Conversely, U.S. studies showed that men who are divorced or separated are relatively less likely to abstain from alcohol and relatively more likely to drink at heavier levels (followed closely by the group of single persons) (Celentano and McQueen, 1984; Johnson 1982; Wilsnack, Wilsnack, and Klassen, 1984). Temple et al. (1991) showed that it was specifically for younger men that not getting married and becoming unmarried was associated with increased typical quantity per occasion. Based on a longitudinal study of young Americans, Horwitz and White (1991) also found that married individuals were less likely to be problem drinkers, but they hypothesized that it might be due to a selection bias by which problem drinkers are less likely to get married. …