Premium
The Relationships between per capita Consumption, Drinking Patterns and Alcohol Related Problems in a Population Sample, 1965–1974. Part I: Increased Consumption and Changes in Drinking Patterns
Author(s) -
Cartwright A. K. J.,
Shaw S. J.,
Spratley T. A.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
british journal of addiction to alcohol and other drugs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0007-0890
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1978.tb00150.x
Subject(s) - demography , per capita , consumption (sociology) , population , environmental health , alcohol consumption , sample (material) , geography , medicine , alcohol , biology , social science , biochemistry , chemistry , chromatography , sociology
Summary Sample surveys of the population of the same London suburb, conducted in 1965 and 1974, were studied to trace changes in drinking habits. Over the nine year period, per capita consumption increased 47%, but there was no change in the proportion of abstainers, and the drinking population did not drink any morefrequently in 1974 than they had in 1965. The increase in mean consumption was due largely to a 56% increase in average drinking day consumption. Drinking on weekdays became as frequent and as heavy as weekend drinking had been in 1965, and there was also a general shift towards drinking more at home. The populations were categorised into 18 demographic sub‐groups on the basis of age, sex and occupational status. Each group followed the main trend in overall consumption, except for changes in the types of beverage consumed. Relative differences between the drinking habits of the sexes and the age groups remained fairly consistent, but the frequency of drinking and the beverage choice of the lower status group moved closer towards that of the upper status group. Changes in drinking habits within the suburb which did not replicate national changes were related to factors peculiar to the suburb's population, but a consideration of the validity of sample data concluded that such longitudinal surveys could produce valid and reliable data on changes in overall drinking habits.