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A new study suggests that some people residing in disadvantaged neighborhoods could be at more risk of problem drinking, although it could depend on their race and gender.

A survey of about 14,000 U.S. adults found that those living in low-income neighborhoods were generally more likely to be non-drinkers than were people in affluent neighborhoods. However, the same was not true for men who are black and Hispanic.

Among drinkers, it was found that African Americans living in disadvantaged neighborhoods were more to be heavy drinkers, when compared to their better-off counterparts.

Another revelation of the survey was that black men and white women from poor neighborhoods, when drunk had higher chances of facing "consequences" like trouble at work, physical fights, police encounters etc, when compared to their better-off counterparts, Medical Xpress reported.

"There are a lot of aspects of your environment that can affect your drinking behavior and what happens when you do choose to drink," says lead researcher Katherine J. Karriker-Jaffe, Ph.D., of the Public Health Institute's Alcohol Research Group in Emeryville, California.

Karriker-Jaffe pointed out, that for the group that drinks, the factors responsible could be that they have better accessibility to alcohol with many bars around. While there are other factors such as low-income, hence lesser money to dispose for alcohol consumption, or cultural norms that frown on drinking etc that would stop another group from drinking much.

However, the racial and gender differences among people from neighborhood disadvantage who are drinkers and non-drinking, is still not clear, says Karriker-Jaffe.

She speculates that for low-income black men, the reason for heavy drinking could be multiple stressors in their lives. The reason they face more consequences could be due to the fact that usually, there is more number of police present in low-income African-American neighborhoods.

"This can help us figure out strategies to reach the most at-risk people," Karriker-Jaffe says.

She says that whatever the reasons behind the finds may be, it is better to target prevention education or alcohol-abuse treatment programs to certain disadvantaged neighborhoods. She also points that improving job opportunities could also be a good option while it is unclear if cutting down on the typically high number of alcohol outlets in disadvantaged neighborhoods would help.

"We're not sure what the role of increased alcohol availability might be, but it's likely to be important as well," Karriker-Jaffe says.

The study appears in the November issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.