Experiences related to drinking as a function of annual alcohol intake and by sex and age

On data from a representative mail survey of the adult population in Finland, generalized linear modelling was applied to express the probability of consequences of drinking as a function of annual intake of alcohol. Most experiences related to drinking could be predicted as a simple function of annual intake. Annual intake therefore should be retained as a basic variable describing involvement with alcohol. The slopes of the models indicated that particular behavioral concomitants of drinking and direct causal consequences of drinking grow less quickly with increasing consumption than the probability of social control reactions to drinking. Important differences between age groups in the incidence of hazardous drinking behaviours and of causal consequences of drinking prevailed, but, with the exception of drunken driving, sex differences practically vanished when annual intake was held constant. Contrary to the common view that women's drinking is more closely controlled than male drinking, men on each intake level more frequently reported control reactions by significant others.