AGE, COHORT AND PERIOD EFFECTS ON ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION AND PROBLEM DRINKING - FINDINGS FROM THE NORMATIVE AGING STUDY

Objective: We examined whether alcohol consumption and problem drinkin g decreased with age or if the reported declines were actually cohort and/or period effects. Method: We utilized data from the Normative Agi ng Study, assessing 1,267 men three times over an 18-year period (1973 , 1982, 1991). Men were divided into five 9-year birth cohorts; age ra nged from 46 to 72. Results: Sequential analyses using repeated measur es ANOVAs showed significant age, cohort and period effects. Although there was a tendency for alcohol consumption to decline with age, this was not true for all cohorts. Men born between 1910 and 1918 increase d from an average of 350 to 440 drinks per year from their fifties to their sixties. The younger cohorts tended to report both more consumpt ion and mon problems. However, period had the most consistent effect i n this study. There was an increase in problems and in consumption dur ing the 1970s but a decrease in the 1980s, with the exception of the y oungest cohort (1937-1945) who reported more problems in the 1991 asse ssment despite lower consumption. Conclusions: Age-related change in b oth consumption and problems varied depending upon which cohort or tim e period was assessed. Thus, drinking patterns are a complex amalgam o f individual aging and societal change.