[Patterns of drinking in Mexicans. Results of a WHO research study]

Taking into account the importance of alcoholism and of excessive alcohol drinking in all countries of the world, the World Health Organization decided in 1976 to start an international study of the problem. Its purpose was to probe, in communities with different sociocultural patterns, methods and techniques to discover patterns of drinking, damages, incapacities and psychosocial repercussions of excessive alcohol intake, on one hand; and forms of community response to these problems, on the other. Scotland, Zambia and Mexico have been selected for this survey. In the present paper, the objectives of the investigation and the different stages of the project (developed in Mexico) are described. Four types of data have been considered: patterns of drinking, norms, problems created by drinking and the community response to problems related to excessive alcohol intake. Results obtained in relation to drinking patterns are given.