The findings of the study suggest that most heavy drinkers who experience negative life events in late mid-life tend to continue with this pattern of alcohol consumption whilst going through these events. Therefore, mental health practitioners may wish to consider asking about and/or assessing alcohol consumption in individuals reporting mid-life events such as divorce and severe illness or death of a family member. This is especially pertinent given that the “constant heavy drinking” group in the study was also shown to be more vulnerable to depression, suggesting a co-morbidity between alcohol use and mental health problems in this group.