Relationships between characteristics of drinking occasions and negative and positive experiences related to drinking.

The relationships between characteristics of drinking occasions and experiences related to drinking were studied. Interviews were conducted in 1992 with a representative sample of the Finnish population between 15 and 69 years of age. The analyses were based on 10,039 drinking occasions of 1,483 male and 1,373 female drinkers. Intake of alcohol and the frequency of drunkenness were the most important predictors of both negative and positive experiences related to drinking. Characteristics of the drinking situations contributed significantly to the explanatory models, but their predictive power was small. Public and large-group drinking situations tended to increase and private and intimate situations tended to decrease the number of both negative and positive experiences related to single drinking occasions. The same situations that lead to increased positive experiences with drinking also increase the risk for negative experiences.