PRAGUE WOMENS DRINKING BEFORE AND AFTER THE (VELVET REVOLUTION) OF 1989 - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

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 .