L. Kubicka et al., PRAGUE WOMENS DRINKING BEFORE AND AFTER THE (VELVET REVOLUTION) OF 1989 - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY, Addiction, 90(11), 1995, pp. 1471-1478
Results are presented of a follow-up study in which a representative s
ample of 608 Prague women aged 20-49 years in 1987 at first interview
was re-interviewed in 1992 3 years after the revolution that ended the
41 years of the Communist era in Czechoslovakia The average yearly co
nsumption of alcohol in the followed-up female sample increased betwee
n 1987-92 from a reported 3.6 litres to 4.8 litres. The percentage of
heavier drinkers (with average daily consumption of over 20 g alcohol)
increased from 7.2% to 14.0%. The women expressed increased tolerance
of drunkenness in their attitudes to drinking. The consumption increa
se was mainly due to increased drinking frequency of spirits and to in
creased quantity of beer consumed per occasion. The consumption increa
se was largest in women working as free-lance and the newly emerging s
elf-employed women; economically inactive women did nor increase their
consumption. Women who reported a positive impact of the socio-politi
cal changes on their personal fives and an expansion of social contact
s also reported larger than average consumption increases. A coinciden
ce of stressful, possibly self-inflicted, life events and increased al
cohol use was observed and interpreted as probably a two-way influence
.