Pia Mäkelä1, Pekka Kumpulainen2, Janne Härkönen1, Tomi Lintonen3. 1. Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland. 2. Datatohtori, Kuujaantie 32, 36270 Kangasala, Finland. 3. Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, c/o THL, Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To understand the contexts and characteristics of drinking occasions, we typologized drinking occasions and examined how different aspects of drinking vary in them and what part of population-level drinking and intoxication occasions each covers. METHOD: A Finnish general population survey in 2016 (n = 2,285) with event-level data on drinking occasions (n = 6,697) was used. Occasion types were identified by latent class analysis. The characteristics of the drinking occasions were location, purpose, company, timing, duration, the amounts and beverages drunk, and estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC). RESULTS: Eight drinking occasion classes were identified. The three most common ones were all light drinking occasions at home, with the company varying. Five of the eight types were about socializing with people beyond the family. The heaviest drinking occasion type, "big party nights," had an average eBAC of .12%, which seemed to be connected to the long duration of these occasions. The most important contributors to total population-level intoxication occasions were "big party nights" and "at home with the family" occasions (accounting for 30% and 20%, respectively). In terms of contributions to the population's total alcohol consumption, the order of these classes was reversed (19% and 26%, respectively). Drinking at home with no visitors covered 40% of all the alcohol drunk in Finland. Different types of occasions varied little in beverage type composition. CONCLUSIONS: For acute harm, "big party nights" are important to consider because of the prevalence of intoxication, whereas for chronic harm, drinking at home without visitors is even more important to consider.
OBJECTIVE: To understand the contexts and characteristics of drinking occasions, we typologized drinking occasions and examined how different aspects of drinking vary in them and what part of population-level drinking and intoxication occasions each covers. METHOD: A Finnish general population survey in 2016 (n = 2,285) with event-level data on drinking occasions (n = 6,697) was used. Occasion types were identified by latent class analysis. The characteristics of the drinking occasions were location, purpose, company, timing, duration, the amounts and beverages drunk, and estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC). RESULTS: Eight drinking occasion classes were identified. The three most common ones were all light drinking occasions at home, with the company varying. Five of the eight types were about socializing with people beyond the family. The heaviest drinking occasion type, "big party nights," had an average eBAC of .12%, which seemed to be connected to the long duration of these occasions. The most important contributors to total population-level intoxication occasions were "big party nights" and "at home with the family" occasions (accounting for 30% and 20%, respectively). In terms of contributions to the population's total alcohol consumption, the order of these classes was reversed (19% and 26%, respectively). Drinking at home with no visitors covered 40% of all the alcohol drunk in Finland. Different types of occasions varied little in beverage type composition. CONCLUSIONS: For acute harm, "big party nights" are important to consider because of the prevalence of intoxication, whereas for chronic harm, drinking at home without visitors is even more important to consider.