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Results from Bogalusa Heart Study, 1993-94 showed that over a third of the children in grades three to six had experimented with alcohol. Family modeling was the main environmental factor in experimentation, while curiosity was the main personal factor. Many of the children felt that alcohol use could lead to accidents and that drinking has negative consequences socially.

Survey mode effects linked to unit nonresponse and screening procedures were estimated in a study of self-reported tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use. Two samples of the same population were drawn: a random digit dial (RDD) sample with telephone screening and a multistage area probability sample with in-person screening. Respondents in both samples were interviewed by telephone to control mode of communication effects. Households without telephones were excluded from both samples to control sample coverage effects. Although results show substantially lower response rates in the telephone survey due to screening refusals, the two survey procedures produced samples that were very similar in demographic characteristics and in substance use profiles. Differential screening operations and differential nonresponse rates between the RDD and area probability designs did not appear to be a major source of mode effects in comparing telephone and face-to-face surveys of substance use., Random digit dial (RDD) surveys have become increasingly common in research measuring tobacco, alcohol, and drug use, replacing the more expensive face-to-face mode. A critical question is whether RDD and [...]

American Indian elders living in Los Angeles County, CA, were surveyed from 1987 to 1989 to determine their patterns of alcohol consumption. Results show that only 27% of elders consumed alcohol. More women than men and people aged 61 years and older abstained from alcohol. People living in single generation households had a greater tendency to drink once a month compared to those living in households with children. The Sioux also consumed more alcohol than other urban American Indians.

A survey shows that alcohol consumption is very common in Canada but the volume of alcohol consumption has decreased since the 1970s. Heavy drinking is less common due to increased awareness of problems caused by alcohol consumption. Government is taking steps, such as alcoholic beverage access control and taxation to reduce the ill effects of alcohol on society. Traffic regulations are being amended to discourage people from driving after alcohol consumption. Results of a survey are discussed in detail.

Analysis of the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire Tension-Reduction Subscale (TR-AEQ) items in 503 social-drinking college subjects to discover common aspects and to evaluate factorial invariance across levels of alcohol intake and gender revealed an appropriate common-factor model with seven pairs of correlated disturbances. Partial factorial invariance was evident in drinking frequency and factorial invariance across gender validating the use of TR-AEQ for psychometric analysis of problem drinking behaviors.

Effective screening of pregnant women for drinking that puts the fetus at risk for developing fetal alcohol syndrome is an essential part of prenatal care. Screening tools such as questionnaires […]

Researchers used data from two different health care systems in the same county to analyze the relationship of drinking patterns and problems to injury versus non-injury status among ER (emergency room) patients. The role of alcohol in non-injury instances in the ER is different from its role in injury cases, and it emphasizes the significance of regular testing for alcohol among the injured in ER caseloads.

The Dutch National Food Consumption Survey studied alcohol consumption, food intake and smoking in 1145 men and 1171 women to find out how alcohol consumption affects dietary and smoking habits. Alcohol consumption was found to lead to a higher energy intake, in part because food intake was not reduced to compensate for increased calories from alcohol. Alcohol consumption was strongly related to smoking. It was weakly related to increased fat intake in men and cholesterol intake in women.

This study describes alcohol use in the general population of San Diego County. A random digit dial telephone survey was utilized to query 1656 adults about their drinking behavior. A quantity and frequency measure of alcohol consumption was used to classify drinking patterns. Alcohol problems were classified by acute problems and chronic problems. Males 18-25 years old reported the highest percentages of heavier drinking. Among females, this age group was also the most likely group to report heavier drinking. Overall, males and heavier drinkers were the most likely groups to report problems. However, lighter and moderate drinkers accounted for equal or greater percentages of each problem. Drinkers in the 18-25 year old age group were the group most likely to report the majority of all problems in both problem categories. Additionally, this group accounted for the majority of the reported acute problems.

Iowa lifted its monopoly on bottled wine wholesale and retail sales in Jul 1, 1985 and bottled spirits retail sales in Mar 1987 to a private distribution system increasing alcohol availability in the state. The effects of privatization on drinking contexts and the specific problems brought by context changes were studied using before and after survey data. Results showed that there was minimal change in the frequency of drinking in the contexts studied. Moreover, troubles due to drinking were not significantly different before and after the privatization.

The effects of raising the legal minimum drinking age on alcohol consumption patterns of college students were determined. Results showed an increase in the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption during the period prior to legislative change and a decline immediately after. However, measures of drinking patterns and behaviors such as quantity-frequency ratio and reports of problem drinking remained marginally constant over time. Only minor changes in drinking patterns such as adjustment in drinking venues occurred after legislation.

Data from a nationwide survey provide prevalence estimates of alcohol use and alcohol dependence among persons in a variety of specific occupations. Further research is needed to define the working [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2009.05.009 Byline: Tayyiba S.K. AlMarri (a), Tian P.S. Oei (a), Rosalisa Murni AbRahman (b) Keywords: Drinking refusal self-efficacy; Arab; Asian; Alcohol Abstract: The influence of an individuals' belief in their ability to resist drinking alcohol has recognised importance in understanding the pattern of drinking behaviours among Caucasian samples. Measures used to investigate this construct, such as the drinking refusal self-efficacy questionnaire-revised (DRSEQ-R; [Oei, T. P. S., Hasking, P. A., & Young, R. M. (2005). Drinking refusal self-efficacy questionnaire-revised (DRSEQ-R): A new factor structure with confirmatory factor analysis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 78, 297-307.]) have been widely used and have established psychometric properties. However, the exploration of the utility of this questionnaire with samples of different ethnicity, religion and living in different countries remains scarce. In the current study, Arab Muslim samples living in the United Arab Emirates and Oman (n =356) and Asian predominately Muslim samples living in Malaysia and Indonesia (n =256) were used. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the DRSEQ-R has a three factor structure. Internal consistency ranged from [alpha] .96 to [alpha] .86 and validity was good. This study offers evidence of the utility of this measure with Arab and Asian samples. Author Affiliation: (a) School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia (b) Department of Psychology, University Kebangsaan, Malaysia

A random sample of 241 patients from General Practice registers in London were interviewed to assess alcohol consumption, cognitive impairment, degression and other factors. Fifty-one per cent of men and 22% of women reported use of alcohol in the previous 3 months. No significant association was found between reported drinking status and age, score on a depression scale, falls in the previous 3 months, attendance at outpatient clinics or impatient care in the previous year. In the men abstainers were significantly more likely to show cognitive impairment than were drinkers. Amongst those respondents who admitted to drinking within the previous 3 months, total stated weekly alcohol consumption was not associated with age, cognitive impairment and scores on the depression scale, and there was no association with fall, or with outpatient or inpatient care. Only three men (3.6%) and five women (3.2%) admitted consuming more than 21 and 14 units of alcohol per week, respectively.

This article presents some results of a recent national survey of adolescent drinking behavior. Specifically, three topics related to adolescent drinking are described: * The prevalence of alcohol consumption and […]

This study examines the association between military service in Souteast Asia and alcohol drinking patterns in 2,169 male-male monozygotic twin pairs who both served on active military duty during the Vietnam era (1965-75). Data on alcohol drinking were collected in 1987 by mail and telephone interview. the alcohol drinking measures include three indicators of abstention (liftetime abstainer, lifetime non-regular drinker, and current abstainer) and two indicators of consumption (average daily ethanol consumption and high consumption). In unadjusted and co-twin adjusted analyses, neither service in Souteast Asia nor combat exposure was significantly associated wiht any measure of abstention. In the co-twin adjusted analysis, there was no association of Southeast Asia service and combat exposure with average daily ethanol consumption. After adjusment for co-twin effects, 4.0 percent of non-Southeast Asia veterans were high consumers compared to 6.7 percent of Southeast Asia veterans who served in high combat. We conclude that prior military service in a war zone has a relatively modest long-term effect on the alcohol drinking patterns of male veterans. (Am J Public Health 1990; 80:570-574.), The relationship between military service in Vietnam and alcohol drinking patterns has been debated extensively. Some studies indicate that veterans have increased alcohol consumption, but others are inconclusive. Still other reports relate consumption levels to demographic differences between veterans and non-veterans. This study examined the association between military service in Southeast Asia and alcohol drinking patterns in more than 2,000 male-male monozygotic (identical) twin pairs; both twins served on active duty in Vietnam during the years 1965 to 1975. Three categories of abstention from drinking were used: lifetime abstainer, current abstainer, and lifetime non-regular drinker. Average and high alcohol consumption were the measures of drinking used. Responses to a series of questionnaires were obtained. The results showed that, in large measure, neither service in Vietnam nor combat exposure was significantly associated with abstention from alcohol. There was no significant association of military service or combat exposure to average daily alcohol consumption, after adjustment for twin pairs. Of Vietnam veterans who were involved in high combat, 6.7 percent were high alcohol consumers, as compared with 4 percent of non-Vietnam veterans. The authors conclude that serving in a war zone has a fairly modest effect on long-term drinking behavior. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

It has been clearly established that alcohol abuse incurs high medical, social and economic costs in the United States. For researchers who wish to study these issues, it is difficult to directly measure the extent of problem drinking. Instead, the indirect measure of alcohol consumption most frequently utilized is alcohol sales. Expenditures on alcohol are often reported by the states, but this data can be misleading if significant amounts of alcoholic beverages are purchased out-of-state. Regardless of geographic boundaries, alcohol sales may not reflect actual drinking if alcohol is stockpiled or not consumed. Another index of alcohol consumption is self-reported use of alcohol, but respondents may not be truthful about their habits. To determine how accurate alcohol sales data are as an index of alcohol consumption, a study was done to relate sales statistics to self-reported consumption. Telephone interviews were conducted in 21 states with a median of 1,177 adults per state. Statistical analysis indicated that per capita sales and self-reported consumption were strongly correlated. Respondents were also asked about three behaviors linked to alcohol abuse: binge drinking, heavy drinking and drinking and driving. The results demonstrated that the correlations between these behaviors and sales were 0.59, 0.74 and 0.51 respectively. In conclusion, the states with higher alcohol sales also had a higher incidence of alcohol consumption and high-risk drinking behavior as reported by the subjects themselves. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

A survey was conducted to evaluate the trend of overindulgence among older Americans. The results revealed that overindulgence was 14% in Americans above fifty, 29% in Americans between the age group 30-49 and 30% in Americans between 18-29.

455 students, ages 15-19 years and living in a southern district of Sri Lanka, were self-administered a questionnaire to identify the prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use and to assess student attitudes toward the alcohol and tobacco industries. The current prevalence of smoking was 10.6% among men and 0.0% among women. The current prevalence of alcohol use was 21.2% among men and 3.3% among women. A significantly higher proportion of men than women expressed favorable attitudes toward the alcohol industry (27% versus 7%) and the tobacco industry (13% versus 5%). Given that aggressive marketing strategies are used by these industries to promote their products among young people, epidemiological studies of the substances using scientifically sound methods to formulate effective prevention strategies are essential.