The study appears on the website of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Among the notable findings:
- The percentage of men who drank increased by about 5% to 7% across all ethnic groups. The increases were slightly higher among women, between 8% to 9%.
- Roughly 64% of white men drank alcohol in 2002, compared to 60% of Hispanic men and 53% of black men. Among women, 47% of whites, 32% of Hispanics, and 30% of blacks drank any alcohol.
- For all three ethnic groups, the average number of drinks consumed per month remained level between 1992 and 2002.
- White men drank about 22 drinks per month in 2002, on average, compared to about 19 for blacks and 18 for Hispanics. By contrast, white, black, and Hispanic women consumed just 6, 5, and 3.5 drinks per month, respectively.
- Binge drinking increased across the board, but especially among men. The percentage of white men who had five drinks in a day at least once a week increased from 9% to 14%, and there was a similar increase among Hispanic men.
- Whites are more likely than blacks and Hispanics to get drunk. Twenty percent of white men drank to intoxication at least once a month, compared to just 13% of black men.
It’s not exactly clear which real-world factors might account for the broad trends identified in the study.
The rise in the proportion of drinkers and in binge drinking could be a sign that society is more accepting of alcohol consumption (and overconsumption), says Stephen Bahr, PhD, a professor of sociology at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah.
“There has been much emphasis on drug education and treatment but not as much emphasis on alcohol misuse, which could signal a change in norms and explain the increase in the prevalence of drinkers,” he says.
Social and economic characteristics also affect alcohol consumption in complex ways. The researchers note that people who live alone, are unemployed, are less educated, and were born in the U.S. are all more likely to drink alcohol (and more of it). At the same time, whites may drink more because, as a group, they are more affluent and can better afford alcohol, says Jones-Webb.
Although the researchers controlled for marital status, education, income, and age, other unidentified factors may have skewed the survey data on different genders and ethnic groups, Bahr says.
Still, says Jones-Webb, the study provides “a nice national snapshot of changes in drinking trends over time. This is helpful in evaluating whether health messages regarding drinking are working, and who we may need to target more effectively.”
