SOCIOLOGY Estimating Drinking Patterns and the Prevalence of Alcohol-Related Problems by

It is suggested that a realistic impression of the nature and extent of drinking patterns and alcohol-related problems is only attainable by using several sources of information. Individual measures are undependable and of only limited use. The nature and limitations of data about drinking patterns and alcohol-related problems are described and critically evaluated. These include surveys, records of total alcohol consumption, average alcohol consumption, alcohol purchases, law enforcement data, clinical records and liver cirrhosis mortality data. The shape of the alcohol consumption curve is discussed in relation to empirical evidence and it is concluded that no great generalisation has empirical validity