Marriage, cohabitation and alcohol consumption in young adults: An international exploration

This paper examines the drinking behaviour of young adults aged 24-32 who were married or were cohabiting. Data on this subject were available from surveys in 10 European countries. These were carried out under the auspices of the major investigation entitled 'Gender, Alcohol and Culture: An International Study (GENACIS)'. In general married people were similar to those cohabiting on annual frequencies of alcohol consumption, but lower on amounts consumed on each occasion and, therefore, on annual volumes. However, the extent of these differences varied in different countries. On the usual consumption per occasion measure, there were larger differences between married and cohabiting in Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Norway than in Germany, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Hungary. The differences between married and cohabiting people were, however, not associated with gender or with the presence of children. At the aggregate country level no associations could be shown with women's empowerment, age of first marriage or per capita alcohol consumption