1. AN INDEX OF ALCOHOLIC DRINKING BEHAVIOR RELATED TO THE MEANINGS OF ALCOHOL.
- Author
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Mulford, Harold A. and Miller, Donald E.
- Subjects
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ALCOHOLISM , *SOCIOCULTURAL factors , *BEHAVIOR , *ALCOHOLIC beverages , *SURVEYS - Abstract
This article reports findings from a survey of drinking habits and attitudes of 1,185 persons, chosen to represent the adult population of Iowa. The major purpose of this study is to report the results of a search for clues to explain sociocultural variations in "alcoholic drinking behavior." The phenomena analyzed in this study are statements the person makes about his own use of beverage alcohol. The pertinent categories of phenomena are respondents' reports of (1) drinking vs. abstaining, (2) heavy drinking, (3) extreme deviant drinking and (4) definitions of alcohol in terms of what liquor (including all alcoholic beverages) does for the individual. In this study evidence was offered that the 35 drinkers who were distinguished from the sample manifest the kind of deviant drinking behavior which renders them likely candidates for the label "alcoholic." This study revealed that there is no necessary or invariant relationship between rates of drinkers, rates of heavy drinkers, and rates of alcoholic drinkers, and rates of alcoholic drinkers for the several social segments of the Iowa population.
- Published
- 1961
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