Citation

Rossow I, Makela P, Kerr W. Addiction 2014; 109(9): 1447-1455.

Affiliation

Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/add.12520

PMID

24552460

Abstract

AIM: Within-country temporal changes in alcohol consumption in the USA, Finland, and Norway were examined to assess 1) whether a change in mean alcohol consumption is accompanied by a change in the prevalence of heavy drinkers, 2) whether this mean change reflects a collective displacement in the whole distribution of consumption, and 3) whether collective displacement is found for both an upward and a downward shift in mean consumption. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: We applied repeated cross-sectional survey data on distribution measures for estimated annual alcohol consumption from national population sample surveys covering 30 to 40 years periods in two countries with increasing trends in mean consumption (Finland and Norway) and one country with decreasing trends (the USA). RESULTS: There was a strong positive association (P <0.001) between changes in mean consumption and changes in the prevalence of heavy drinkers in all three countries. Moreover, a change in mean consumption was accompanied by a consumption change in the same direction in all consumer categories in all three countries, i.e. a collective displacement. The regression coefficients were around 1. CONCLUSION: Drinkers at all levels of consumption appear to move in concert, both up and down the consumption scale in Finland, Norway, and the USA, as predicted by Skog's theory of the collectivity of drinking cultures.

Language: en