Whose Drinking Does the Liberalization of Alcohol Policy Increase? Change in Alcohol Consumption by the Initial Level in the Finnish Panel Survey in 1968 and 1969

• NCJ Number: 196085
• Journal: Addiction Volume: 97 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 701-706
• Author(s): Pia Makela
• Date Published: June 2002
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study evaluated alcohol consumption changes among different groups due to a new alcohol law.

Abstract

The study design was a post-hoc quasi-experiment with a two-wave panel study that was conducted in Finland in 1968 and 1969. A new alcohol law was introduced at the beginning of 1969. The greatest change was that medium beer (less than 4.7 percent alcohol by volume) was allowed to be sold in grocery stores. Also, the number of restaurants increased and alcohol monopoly stores were opened in the countryside for the first time. Participants were a general population sample of 1,720 (1,292 men) aged 15 to 69 years. The response rate was 91 percent. The best way to assess the real effect of an intervention in different consumption groups is to use control or reference data on subjects not exposed to the intervention. Control data came from Norway in 1975 and 1976 and the United States in 1993 and 1994. The annual volume of alcohol consumed was measured. Results show that in connection with a nearly 50 percent increase in per capita alcohol consumption in Finland, all consumption groups increased their consumption, and the real increase--with the regression to the mean (RTM) effect controlled for--was greater the higher the initial consumption. Therefore, heavier drinkers were affected by the new law to a greater extent than were lighter drinkers. This means that the consequences that are expected to follow from a certain increase in mean alcohol consumption are more severe than they would be if the increase in consumption would mostly occur among lighter drinkers. A best estimate for the differential impact of future increases in alcohol consumption is that moderate and heavy drinkers will be affected to a greater extent than will light drinkers or abstainers. Further studies are needed before it is known whose consumption changes when mean alcohol consumption changes in different situations (increase versus decrease in consumption, change in price versus availability, different cultures and countries). 2 tables, 20 references