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Czech men's drinking in changing political climates 1983-93: a three-wave longitudinal study
L Kubicka1, L Csémy, J Duplinský
1Prague Psychiatric Centre, Czech Republic.
Aims:
To analyse the relationships between political developments in the Czech Republic and the drinking behaviour of Czech men.
Design:
A longitudinal (panel) design provided data collected on a cohort of 586 Czech men in three different political climates in 1983, 1988 and 1993.
Setting:
In 1986-88 the ruling Communist party tried to reduce alcohol consumption in the country by a Gorbachev-inspired anti-alcohol campaign; after 1989 the re-establishment of democracy and a market economy abolished all political control over drinking and deregulated prices of beverage alcohol.
Participants:
A representative cohort of Prague men born 1950-61.
Measurements:
Beverage-specific interview reports on drinking behaviour and questionnaire data on attitudes to drinking.
Findings:
In those followed-up, mean alcohol consumption decreased between 1983 and 1988 by 26% and increased again by 16% between 1988 and 1993, mirroring per capita consumption in the Czech Republic. The same time trend was observed across all educational levels and also among men who were registered for alcohol abuse. Attitudes of the men to drinking changed minimally over the 10 years of follow-up. Individual attitudes to drinking interacted with the period effects: men with strong positive attitudes to drinking decreased their consumption less than others during the anti-alcohol campaign and such men increased their consumption more than the average during the liberalisation period.
Conclusions:
The downward and then upward in average alcohol consumption of the men during the 10 years of follow-up can be interpreted as affected partly by price changes and partly by changes in political control over drinking.