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PubMed2004

Drinking patterns of older Americans: National Health Interview Surveys, 1997-2001.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to estimate the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption among current drinking Americans age 60 years and older, by gender and age. METHOD: Five years (1997-2001) of cross-sectional National Health Interview Survey data were pooled. Quantity (number of drinks consumed, on average, on drinking days), frequency (number of drinking days per year) and a composite quantity-frequency measure (average number of drinks per day) were defined. Age trends (between age 60 and 84 years) were tested using logistic regression. Analyses were weighted to produce national estimates. RESULTS: Among 40,556 adults age 60 years and older, 52.8% (n = 8,136) of men and 37.2% (n = 8,710) of women were current drinkers. Over increasingly older age groups of current drinking men and women (1) proportions consuming higher quantities of alcohol (two drinks or more) decreased (p trend < .001), whereas proportions consuming lower quantities (one drink) increased (p trend < .001); and (2) proportions drinking least frequently (< 12 days per year) and most frequently (260-365 days per year) increased (p trend < .05), whereas proportions drinking at intermediate frequencies remained stable or decreased. Differences in patterns for quantity alone and frequency alone were obscured by the composite quantity-frequency measure. CONCLUSIONS: In a nationally representative survey, quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption showed strikingly different patterns of cross-sectional age-related change. In epidemiologic studies, quantity and frequency have been differentially associated with medical conditions prevalent in older populations. Investigators studying alcohol consumption in older people should consider reporting results separately by quantity and frequency.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Do we learn from our mistakes? An examination of the impact of negative alcohol-related consequences on college students' drinking patterns and perceptions.

OBJECTIVE: Little research has examined antecedents of specific drinking consequences (vomiting, regretted sex, hangover, blackouts) among college students. This research examined how students' experiences of past consequences relate to their beliefs of experiencing similar consequences in the future and how these beliefs relate to current drinking patterns. METHOD: Self-reported past drinking behavior and resulting consequences associated with specific occasions were assessed among 303 (66% women) college students. Students also estimated number of drinks associated with risk of experiencing future similar consequences. RESULTS: Paired-samples t tests indicated that students significantly overestimated the number of drinks it would take to vomit, have unwanted sexual experiences, experience hangovers, and black out in comparison with the actual self-reported number of drinks consumed the last time identical consequences were experienced. In addition, a series of multiple-regression analyses revealed that greater misperceptions between the perceived and actual number of drinks associated with each type of consequence were consistently associated with heavier drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that heavier-drinking students do not learn from their mistakes but instead overestimate the amount of alcohol they can consume without experiencing negative consequences. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed in terms of augmenting brief interventions aimed at heavy-drinking college students.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2007

Social anxiety as a moderator of the relationship between perceived norms and drinking.

OBJECTIVE: College students overestimate the drinking of their peers, and the more they overestimate, the more they drink. The present research was designed to evaluate social anxiety as a moderator of the relationship between perceived norms and drinking among college men and women. METHOD: Participants included 1,217 first-year residence-hall students (62.8% women) who completed Web-based assessments of social anxiety, perceived norms, and self-reported drinking. RESULTS: Results replicated previous research in that students overestimated the drinking of their peers (d = 0.75, p < .001). Students who had higher social anxiety drank somewhat more but did not differ from students who had lower social anxiety on perceived norms. However, the relationship between perceived norms and drinking was stronger among students who had higher social anxiety (d = 0.92, p < .001) relative to less socially anxious students (d = 0.02, p = NS). Higher levels of social anxiety were associated with a stronger relationship between perceived norms and drinking for both men (d = 0.86, p < .001) and women (d = 0.50, p < .001) but stronger for men (d = 0.26, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: These results corroborate previous literature, which suggests that social factors are important determinants of drinking in this population and suggest that social anxiety is associated with susceptibility to peer influences on drinking. Additional work evaluating whether reductions in social anxiety may ameliorate the impact of perceived norms on drinking would be worthwhile.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Alcohol drinking patterns and blood pressure.

BACKGROUND: Although blood pressure tends to increase with average alcohol consumption, little is known about the effects of drinking patterns on blood pressure. Therefore, the effects of average drinks per day and drinking pattern (defined as the independent and interactive effects of quantity and frequency) on blood pressure were compared. METHODS: Data were obtained from a random sample survey of 1,635 household residents in Erie County, New York. Alcohol-blood pressure relationships were examined using multiple regression analyses that controlled for the potentially confounding influence of 13 additional risk factors for elevated blood pressure. RESULTS: Consistent with prior research, a positive relationship was found between average drinks per day and diastolic and systolic blood pressure. Analyses examining the effect of drinking pattern indicated that drinking frequency had a positive effect on both diastolic and systolic blood pressure, whereas drinking quantity did not affect either. Furthermore, there was little evidence that the frequency-by-quantity interaction affected blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Low average alcohol intake and low blood pressure were associated with infrequent drinking, rather than with frequent drinking of small amounts of alcohol. Results suggest that the standard practice of averaging alcohol consumption may obscure important effects of drinking frequency on health.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Drinking behavior in relation to cause of death among US adults.

OBJECTIVES: Alcohol involvement is common in many fatal injuries. This study examines drinking behavior in a nationally representative sample of US adult decedents aged 25 through 64 years and its association with cause of death. METHODS: Proxy-reported information from the 1986 National Mortality Followback Survey was used to profile the decedents' usual frequency and quantity of drinking. The association of drinking behavior with underlying cause of death was assessed while adjusting for demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Of the decedents, 17% were daily drinkers, 22% usually consumed five drinks or more per occasion, and 27% were classified as heavier drinkers. Persons who died of injury drank more frequently and heavily than those who died of disease. The adjusted odds ratio of injury's being the underlying cause of death was 1.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1, 1.8) for daily drinkers, 1.5 (95% CI = 1.1, 2.0) for those drinking five or more drinks per occasion, and 1.4 (95% CI = 1.1, 1.7) for heavier drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Daily drinking, binge drinking, and heavier drinking were each associated with an increased likelihood of injury as the underlying cause of death. Persons who were young, male, Native American, or divorced or separated were more likely to drink frequently and heavily.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Structural equation modeling of drinking motives in male DUI offenders.

Measures completed by 250 men convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) were analyzed to examine the direct effects of parental problem drinking and the mediational influence of drinking motives on alcohol use and drinking-related problem outcomes. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate competing models in the cross-sectional data set. Results indicated that: 1) reported parental problem drinking modestly predicted both alcohol use and problem outcomes when tested in the absence of influence from drinking motives; 2) confirmatory factor analysis yielded a 4-factor drinking motives solution consisting of social, enhancement, coping with negative emotions, and interpersonal facilitation; and 3) both enhancement and interpersonal facilitation drinking motives mediated parental problem drinking's direct effect on alcohol use and problem outcomes. Drinking to cope with negative emotions, while not mediational in nature, produced a direct effect pathway to problem outcomes. The findings extend predictive utility of specific drinking motive dimensions on alcohol use and problem outcomes from previous research in community and university samples to men convicted of driving while intoxicated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Comparison of alcohol consumption patterns and social problems between women and men drink-drivers.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the sociodemographic characteristics, patterns of alcohol consumption and driving histories of women and men drink-drivers. DESIGN: Cross-sectional descriptive study. SETTING AND SUBJECTS: All 156 women who attended the Drink-Drive Program at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, between January 1990 and December 1993, and an age-matched sample of 298 men attending in the same period. All had been disqualified from driving after a conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol. OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported weekly alcohol consumption and expenditure on alcohol at apprehension and during the program; blood alcohol level (BAL) at apprehension; demographic characteristics; number of previous drink-drive and other traffic convictions; and score on the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST). RESULTS: Women had a higher educational level than men, and were more likely to be managers or professionals and to live in areas of high socioeconomic status. Women reported lower levels of weekly alcohol consumption at both apprehension (women: 15.2 standard drinks; men: 31.6 standard drinks) and during the program (women: 7.1 standard drinks; men: 12.0 standard drinks) but had similar BALs to men at apprehension (mean, 0.12% [26 mmol/L]). Sixty percent of women drank wine, or wine, beer and spirits, while 75% of men drank beer. Women had lower MAST scores than men (mean [standard deviation]: women, 5.8 [5.2]; men, 8.9 [8.2]). Women were less likely than men to have prior convictions for drink-driving or other traffic offences. CONCLUSION: Although women presented with similar blood alcohol levels to men, their drinking patterns and sociodemographic characteristics differ greatly. Health education for women drink-drivers needs to have a different strategy to that for men.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed2001

New data on the epidemiology of adult drinking and substance use among American Indians of the northern states: male and female data on prevalence, patterns, and consequences.

The quantity, frequency, and variability of alcohol and other substance use is described in a random sample of 1,436 enrolled members of four tribes from the northern United States. Overall, males begin regular drinking at an earlier age than do females (17 vs. 18.1 years), and more males drink alcohol than females (70.7% to 60.4%). There are some very heavy drinkers who drink daily in these populations, but most drinkers are binge drinkers. On any typical day abstinence from alcohol is the modal pattern. That is, most respondents indicated very infrequent drinking, and among the older age groups (40+), there is a high rate of abstinence. Males drink more frequently and in larger quantities than females. The number of drinking days per month is 4.7 for males and 2.1 for females, and on those days when drinking occurs, the males consume an average of 5.7 drinks and females an average of 3.1. The highest prevalence of drinking and the heaviest drinking occur among those who are under the age of 30. With the exception of tobacco use, which is high in all age categories, the use of other drugs is highest in those under 30.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Japanese national survey of adolescent drinking behavior in 1996.

BACKGROUND: Despite legal prohibition of drinking by minors, there has been no systematic attempt to monitor drinking by young Japanese. This research, the first Japanese national survey of Japanese adolescent drinking behaviors, was conducted in 1996. METHODS: In this survey, information on drinking frequency was obtained from questionnaires completed by 42,183 junior high school and 72,396 senior high school students in randomly selected schools representing all areas of Japan. RESULTS: Sixty percent of junior high school students and 70% of senior high school students reported having drinking experiences; 5% of junior high school students and 10% of senior high school students drank one or more times per week. Many of the junior high school students usually drank with their families and consumed small amounts, but many of senior high school students drank on various occasions and consumed larger amounts. These Japanese high school students reported being offered alcohol frequently by their parents, found it easy to buy alcoholic beverages, and believed that they had the right to determine whether to drink. Japanese adolescents' drinking has increased over the past 20 years, whereas drinking by U.S. adolescents has decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Japanese policies aimed at decreasing adolescent drinking are inadequate. A system for monitoring and potentially modifying adolescent drinking behavior is needed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Understanding drinking during pregnancy among urban American Indians and African Americans: health messages, risk beliefs, and how we measure consumption.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about urban American Indian and African American women's drinking during pregnancy, or their beliefs about the risk of doing so. However, rates of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) are believed to be highest among those ethnic groups. METHODS: The Developing Effective Educational Resources (DEER) project recruited pregnant American Indian, African American, and white women from urban California areas (n = 321), to develop culturally appropriate consumption measures, to gather epidemiological data about drinking during pregnancy, and to assess exposure and reactions to health warnings intended to encourage abstinence during pregnancy. RESULTS: The study found high levels of exposure to health warnings among all ethnic groups, but many women were unclear about the actual consequences of FAS, about the risk of drinking even beer or wine or wine coolers, or about the value of reducing intake at any time during pregnancy. The majority of the women who drank malt liquor, fortified wine, wine, and spirits reported having larger than standard drinks, and daily drinkers had the highest levels of reporting error. When drink size was considered in the calculation of alcohol volume, average daily volume of consumption during pregnancy increased to the FAS risk level (average daily volume > or = 1) in the overall sample and among the African American and white subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Because some women, especially heavy drinkers, will continue drinking despite exposure to abstention-oriented health messages, it may be prudent to develop campaigns and interventions that provide factual information to help at-risk women reduce their drinking during pregnancy. Women could be advised of beverage equivalency, of standard drink sizes, and of how their own drinks compare with standard ones. Reliance on standard drink sizes in research can result in significant underreporting of consumption, especially among pregnant risk drinkers.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2001

Gene-environment interaction in patterns of adolescent drinking: regional residency moderates longitudinal influences on alcohol use.

BACKGROUND: Drinking frequency escalates rapidly during adolescence. Abstinence declines markedly, and drinking monthly or more often becomes normative. Individual differences in adolescent drinking patterns are large, and some patterns are predictive of subsequent drinking problems; little, however, is known of the gene-environment interactions that create them. METHODS: Five consecutive and complete birth cohorts of Finnish twins, born 1975-1979, were enrolled sequentially into a longitudinal study and assessed, with postal questionnaires, at ages 16, 17, and 18.5 years. The sample included 1786 same-sex twin pairs, of whom 1240 pairs were concordantly drinking at age 16. Maximum likelihood models were fit in longitudinal analyses of the three waves of drinking data to assess changes in genetic and environmental influences on alcohol use across adolescence. Secondary analyses contrasted twin pairs residing in rural versus those in urban environments to investigate gene-environment interactions. RESULTS: Longitudinal analyses revealed that genetic factors influencing drinking patterns increased in importance across the 30-month period, and effects arising from common environmental influences declined. Distributions of drinking frequencies in twins residing in urban and rural environments were highly similar, but influences on drinking varied between the two environments. Genetic factors assumed a larger role among adolescents residing in urban areas, while common environmental influences were more important in rural settings. Formal modeling of the data established a significant gene-environment interaction. CONCLUSIONS: The results document the changing impact of genetic and environmental influences on alcohol use across adolescence. Importantly, the results also reveal a significant gene-environment interaction in patterns of adolescent drinking and invite more detailed analyses of the pathways and mechanisms by which environments modulate genetic effects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Screening for high- and moderate-risk drinking during pregnancy: a comparison of several TWEAK-based screeners.

PURPOSE: This study investigated the use of the TWEAK and nine alternative screeners for predicting high-risk and moderate-risk drinking during pregnancy. METHOD: The analysis was based on self-reports from 404 lifetime drinkers who presented for an initial visit at nine prenatal clinics in Washington, DC. Data were collected anonymously by having women directly enter their responses onto an audio, computer-assisted interview that was programmed onto a laptop computer. Pregnancy risk drinking status was based on both average daily volume of intake and frequency of drinking 3+ drinks in a day. Each of the alternative screeners was constructed by adding one additional risk indicator to the TWEAK, and three different scoring options were explored. RESULTS: Using thresholds of 2 points for high-risk drinking and 1 point for moderate-risk drinking, the TWEAK demonstrated a sensitivity and specificity of 70.6% and 73.2% for high-risk drinking and a sensitivity and specificity of 65.6% and 63.7% for any (high- or moderate-) risk drinking during pregnancy. None of the alternative screeners resulted in significant improvement, but the addition of current smoking status showed enough promise to warrant further testing in larger samples. CONCLUSIONS: Despite some loss in sensitivity and specificity, the TWEAK, in its original or a modified form, can be extended to measures of high-risk drinking that incorporate infrequent heavy intake and can be used to test for moderate- as well as high-risk drinking. Because identification of moderate-risk drinkers substantially increases the pool of women targeted for intervention, cost implications must be considered in designing appropriate interventions.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Videotaped cue for urge to drink alcohol.

BACKGROUND: The urge to drink alcohol can be robustly and reliably induced via actual exposure to a person's preferred alcoholic beverage. Unfortunately, these exposure paradigms are unwieldy for functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. The goal of this study was to examine whether viewing a personalized videotaped cue could induce alcohol craving. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) individualized cue videotapes can reliably elicit the urge to drink alcohol in alcohol-dependent participants and (2) alcohol drinking histories can predict reactivity to cue. METHODS: DSM-IV criteria were used to identify an alcohol-dependent group (ADG). Controls included a light-drinking group and a moderate-drinking group. Urge to drink alcohol was assessed at baseline and after each of five in vivo exposure conditions: water (W), alcohol 1 (A1), mood induction (M), alcohol 2 (A2), and relaxation (R). The entire exposure session was videotaped. Each participant's video footage was digitally edited to produce a 17.5-min cue that was presented to the participant 24 to 72 hr later. Ratings of urge to drink alcohol across the five exposure conditions were compared for both the in vivo and the video exposure sessions. RESULTS: Fourteen participants (five in the light-drinking group, four in the moderate-drinking group, and five in the ADG) completed both sessions. Participants in each group showed differences between neutral cue exposure (W and R) and alcohol-related cue exposure (A1, M, and A2) in both the in vivo cue session (p < 0.002) and the videotape session (p < 0.02). Post hoc comparisons among the groups to alcohol-related cues established that, in both sessions (p(in vivo) = 0.04; p(videotape) = 0.04), the ADG demonstrated the greatest urge to drink. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol cue reactivity can be reliably induced and assessed in alcohol-dependent participants via personalized videotapes. History of alcohol consumption is positively correlated with the degree of cue reactivity. This study advances our ability to assess alcohol cue reactivity in the absence of alcohol.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

[Interrelationship among factors associated with drinking behaviors in dental students].

We analyzed the Kurihama Alcoholism Screening Test (KAST), the Adolescent Alcohol Involvement Scale (AAIS), the Fagerstroem Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ), the Tokyo University ALDH2-Phenotype Screening Test (TAST), results of ethanol patch tests, the presence or absence of a smoking habit, and gender by "Hayashi's quantification theory, type II" in 415 senior students (232 males and 183 females) of a dental college between 2000 and 2003, and evaluated their relationships. When drinking education is given to dental students, both the prevention of acute alcohol intoxication by chugging and the prevention of alcohol dependence in students with drinking behavior suggesting this tendency are necessary. For acute alcohol intoxication, attention can be aroused in students with positive ethanol patch tests. However, there is no definite instruction method for the prevention of alcohol dependence. Therefore, we analyzed the relationships among drinking, smoking, and constitution based on data obtained during the 4 years when the above 3 types of surveys were performed. Plotting of the results of analysis showed that the students can be classified by the ethanol patch test and TAST into those with "alcohol-sensitive" constitution and those with "alcohol-tolerant" constitution. Most problem drinkers were "alcohol-tolerant". KAST showed plotting along the constitution axis from "normal drinking group" to "problem drinking borderline group" but a change in the angle to an L shape at the transfer point from "problem drinking borderline group" to "problem drinking group", showing more serious states along the smoking axis. These results suggest that drinking behavior is first regulated by alcohol- sensitive or alcohol-tolerate constitution, and alcohol-tolerate students with a smoking habit have alcohol dependence tendency, and tend to show serious problem drinking. Improvement in the drinking habit is necessary in alcohol-tolerate students with a smoking habit so that they will not develop alcohol dependence.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

[Factors promoting Japanese adolescent problem drinking in a cohort study over 5 years].

This report outlines factors promoting adolescent problem drinking at 5 years after the start of a cohort study. We started the first longitudinal cohort study on Japanese adolescent alcohol use and misuse in 1997. The purpose of the cohort study was to show factors that promote adolescent drinking and whether adolescent problem drinking will develop into the early alcohol dependence syndrome. Eight hundred and two subjects whose mean age was 13.5 years old were recruited from four junior high schools in Kanagawa prefecture. The survey was conducted annually by mail using self-reported questionnaires concerning adolescent drinking and alcohol-related problems. In the 2002 survey at 5 years after the starting point, the respondents numbered 557 with a mean age of 18.8 year old, and the follow-up rate was 70%. In the 2002 survey, 17.5% of the subjects were found to be problem drinkers from the scores of the core-AUDIT. We divided the subjects into three groups according to the scores of the core- AUDIT: problem drinkers, drinkers and abstainers. The three groups were compared concerning family relationships, first drinking age and drinking status of parents with the responses of the 1997 survey. In the comparison of the three groups, many factors were significantly different, and a logistic regression analysis was performed on these factors to determine drink promoting factors. Three factors were determined: having drinking experiences at 13.5 years old at the start of the survey, not refusing friends' temptations to drink and less communication with their parents. The results were very important because these three factors were described by many authors as adolescent drinking promoting factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

A central Na+ receptor and its influence on osmotic and angiotensin II induced drinking in the pigeon Columbia livia.

Drinking in response to peripheral osmotic stimuli has been shown to be initiated via an osmoreceptor mechanism. Andersson and his colleagues, from work in the goat, have challenged this hypothesis. They have found that the CSF concentration of Na is the most important factor and that an increase causes thirst, ADH release, and a decrease in Na sodium appetite. We have investigated this subject using pigeons since they have large cerebroventricular spaces and are very rapid drinkers. Pigeons were found to respond normally to peripheral osmotic stimuli but only hypertonic NaCl centrally. Central infusions of water inhibited drinking in response to simultaneous i.v. infusions of 0.5 M NaCl or 1.0 M sucrose. The inhibition occurred only during the infusion and drinking recovered rapidly to normal shortly afterwards. Hypertonic sucrose (0.9 M) centrally inhibited drinking to the same peripheral stimuli whereas 0.3 M sucrose centrally blocked drinking only during i.v. infusion of 0.5 M NaCl but not i.v. 1.0 M sucrose. Drinking recovered rapidly after the infusion. Hypertonic NaCl centrally potentiated drinking to peripheral osmotic stimuli. Urine and electrolyte excretion was increased after hypertonic sucrose infused simultaneously i.c.v. and i.v. compared with other solutions infused i.c.v. and hypertonic sucrose i.v. Drinking induced by AII centrally was additive with hypertonic NaCl centrally. AII infused centrally in water halved the drinking response. AII infused peripherally was not affected by central decreases in Na but additive with increases. Thus there appears to be a central receptor mechanism for Na but it seems to act as a "permissive gate", rather than a potentiator, regulating drinking in response to peripheral or central osmotic stimuli or AII.

Angiotensin II↗
PubMed1993

Gender, styles of deviance, and drinking problems.

The analyses reported here draw on recent work on gender and deviance to derive hypotheses concerning sex differences in drinking behavior, reactions of significant others to male and female intoxication, and the psychological consequences of drinking experiences. The hypotheses are evaluated in structural equation models with recent national data on drinking behavior and consequences. Consistent with the gendered deviance perspective, the results suggest that sex differences in style as well as frequency of intoxication mitigate the adverse consequences of female drinking commonly presumed on the basis of biological vulnerability or societal disapproval of female drunkenness. Compared to males, females become intoxicated less frequently and are less likely to abandon personal control while drinking (as indicated by aggression, blackouts, and rapid ingestion). As expected, these sex differences in drinking behavior are smaller among adolescents than among adults. Partly as a result of this different drinking style, significant others are no more likely to criticize girls or women for their drinking than they are to criticize boys or men. Two hypotheses concerning the greater psychological vulnerability of females to depression as a result of drinking or criticism of drinking by significant others are supported among youths but not among adults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

[Is TLFB method applicable to Japanese drinking population?: a methodological study on measurement of alcohol consumption].

In order to measure alcohol related problems, it is fundamental task to begin with to know the drinking quantity of the people. This study tries to explore the comparative, methodological possibilities of Timeline Follow Back (TLFB) as well as Self-Monitoring (SM) methods to measure drinking quantity, using the sample of Japanese and Sri Lankans. Especially TLFB method has not being so far utilized in Japan for this purpose. This pilot study has done in two stages. In the first stage, it has focused to get data on the correct drinking quantity up to two months period. After analyzing data of the first pilot survey, it was decided to reduce in the second-staged study the time frame to obtain data on drinking quantity only up to one month period. In the second-staged study, 37 Japanese and 36 Sri Lankans living in Japan has been selected. Results show that it is more appropriate SM method than TLFB method to investigate drinking quantity of the Japanese. Further it was evidenced that in order to employ TLFB method to investigate correct drinking quantity of the general Japanese population, it has to be further improved for overcoming ambiguity of respondents' memory on their alcohol consuming behavior. Moreover, it is understood that some characteristic drinking behaviors, influenced by Japanese drinking culture may be another barrier in getting correct drinking quantity data. However, the hypothesized notion of this cultural barriers was not supported. An alternative hypothesis "reflexive sensitivity to drinking", was implied.

Adult↗