ASSOCIATING LEISURE WITH DRINKING - CURRENT RESEARCH AND FUTURE-DIRECTIONS

This paper has two components: (1) a survey of current research relati ng drinking with leisure, and (2) suggestions for future studies in th e area, A total of 43 relevant journal articles published between 1980 and 1994 were located via an on-line search, Results of these studies generally fall under one of the following themes: (1) alcohol is an i ntegral part of leisure experience, (2) drinking is an impediment to l eisure, (3) participation in active leisure reduces alcohol use/abuse, and (4) drinking and leisure have no relations, Overall, it was found that current research suffered an overdependence on special populatio ns and a lack of robust instruments measuring either drinking or leisu re. Suggestions for future research were provided, such as better rese arch design and greater integration of leisure into alcohol research.