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Drunkenness, feeling the effects and 5+ measures
1University of California at Berkeley, School of Social Welfare 94720-7400, USA. LMidanik@UCLink4.Berkeley.Edu
Aims:
The purpose of this study is to compare changes in the definitions of drunkenness and feeling the effects of drinking between 1979 and 1995 in US surveys, and compare three measures of heavier drinking as predictors of negative consequences of heavier alcohol use.
Design:
A trend analysis using the 1979 (N = 1772) and 1995 (N = 2178) US National Alcohol Surveys and a cross-sectional analysis using only the 1995 National Alcohol Survey.
Participants:
The analysis included only those respondents who reported consuming alcohol in the last year. The data were collected by face-to-face interviews.
Measurements:
Three measures of heavier drinking were obtained in each survey: frequency of drunkenness, frequency of feeling the effects of alcohol and frequency drinking five or more drinks on one day. The three outcome measures were derived as indices of social consequences, alcohol dependence symptoms and alcohol-related harm.
Findings:
Significantly higher proportions of respondents reported being drunk or feeling the effects of alcohol in 1995, and they also reported a lower number of drinks needed to become drunk (8.2 vs. 6.3 drinks) and to feel the effects (4.7 vs. 4.0 drinks). Frequency of drunkenness was found to be the best predictor of social consequences, alcohol dependence symptoms and alcohol-related harm.
Conclusions:
These results point to some of the cultural shifts that have occurred in the United States during this "drying" period and the importance of considering more subjective measures of heavier drinking to assess risk.