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Comparing distributions of alcohol consumption: empirical probability plots
Author(s) -
LEMMENS P. H. H. M.,
TAN E. S.,
KNIBBE R. A.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
british journal of addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0952-0481
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1990.tb01687.x
Subject(s) - mathematics , logarithm , probability distribution , distribution (mathematics) , statistics , transformation (genetics) , parametric statistics , inverse distribution , scale (ratio) , logarithmic distribution , alcohol consumption , logarithmic scale , econometrics , statistical physics , heavy tailed distribution , mathematical analysis , alcohol , physics , negative binomial distribution , biochemistry , chemistry , quantum mechanics , acoustics , poisson distribution , gene
Summary Parametric approaches to the problem of the distribution of alcohol consumption have not been very successful. In this article, it is shown that regularity in distribution can be studied without making assumptions about a distribution model underlying the data. For this purpose, a method u used with which distributions are compared graphically in so‐called probability plots. It appears that, up to a proper linear transformation on a logarithmic scale, a surprisingly large regularity over time can be observed between distributions taken from Dutch samples in 1970, 1981 and 1985. Equally, distributions from male and female sub‐samples do not appear to differ up to a linear shift. The finding of a relative equality in distributional form is in accordance with the Ledermann model. However, the difference with the Ledermann's model is that no assumptions about the exact shape of the distributions are being made.