RELATIONSHIPS OF MEASURES OF ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION WITH ALCOHOL-RELATEDPROBLEMS IN MULTIPLE STUDIES - A RESEARCH SYNTHESIS FROM THE COLLABORATIVE ALCOHOL-RELATED LONGITUDINAL PROJECT

Two measures of alcohol consumption were used to predict groups of alc ohol problems in 21 general population studies from 11 countries to de termine (a) if quantity of drinking per occasion or frequency of drink ing per month constituted significant ''risk'' for alcohol problems, h aving controlled for each as well as individual-level and aggregate-le vel variables which might confound these relationships and (b) if thes e associations were homogeneous across studies. A two-tiered analysis assessed these relationships within each study by modeling age, sex, q uantity per occasion and frequency per month as predictors of alcohol problems. Meta-analysis combined test statistics to determine if they were homogeneous across studies. ne meta-analysis was repeated, blocki ng for per capita consumption of alcohol (a trait of nations thought t o measure drinking norms) and the female rate of suicide (a trait of n ations thought to measure societal-level stress). When only individual -level variables were controlled (age and sex), both quantity and freq uency were risk factors for each drinking problem. However, except in the case of the association of quantity with alcohol treatment, the ma gnitude of these risks were heterogeneous across studies. When blockin g for the societal-level traits, each had more relevance for some, but not all, of the relationships between consumption and problems. Parti cularly striking was the well-documented finding that per capita consu mption of alcohol significantly distinguished the relationships of fre quency of drinking and health problems (while the female suicide rate did not) and the previously undocumented finding that the female suici de rate significantly distinguished the relationships of both quantity and frequency with treatment (while the per capita consumption of alc ohol did not). These findings suggest that the impact of norms and the impact of societal stress in groups have different but significant co nsequences for the relationships of consumption to problems.