Drinking patterns and abstinence among the elderly.

For almost a decade the research literature has reflected both the scarcity of new knowledge regarding alcohol use or abuse among the elderly and the need to address the problem. Current theoretical perspectives on probable trends of alcohol-related problems among older persons include historical-cohort prediction, biological and clinical geriatric expectations, and sociocultural-economic expectations. These theoretical perspectives are frequently in opposition to each other and are largely untested with appropriate data. This paper introduces the principal theoretical perspectives of alcohol use among the elderly and presents recent data from a probability sample of noninstitutionalized elderly persons regarding alcohol consumption patterns, abstinence, and the influence of increasing chronological age and economic security on alcohol consumption.