The relationship between different evaluations of drinking behaviour

Prisoners' attitudes to their drinking behaviour, although largely accurate, minimize problems in terms of other assessments made at interview. Semantic differences are apparent in the use of the terms 'heavy' and 'problem' as descriptions of drinking behaviour; thus men who admit heavy but deny problem drinking are often reported to be problem drinkers by their family and myself. There is close agreement between the family's reported attitude to a man's drinking and the assessment made in a structured psychiatric interview.