Table 3 Prevalence/distribution or mean and standard deviation of alcohol use indicators, by age and sex (subjects weighted for educational attainment)
From: Increases in alcohol consumption in women and elderly groups: evidence from an epidemiological study
| Â | Age 18-25 | Age 25-35 | Age 35-45 | Age 45-55 | Age 55-65 | Age 65 or older | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Â | Â | Men N=1,222 | Women N=2,493 | Men N=829 | Women N=1,754 | Men N= 978 | Women N= 1,874 | Men N=1,201 | Women N= 2,294 | Men N= 1,264 | Women N= 1,523 | Men N= 543 | Women N= 612 |
Alcohol initiation (N=16,243) | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
  No | 3.0 | 4.1 | 1.7 | 5.0 | 2.1 | 5.1 | 2.8 | 4.7 | 2.1 | 5.9 | 2.9 | 14.3 | |
  A few times to try | 5.4 | 7.7 | 3.2 | 7.2 | 4.9 | 9.2 | 1.8 | 7.1 | 1.7 | 5.8 | 2.5 | 8.7 | |
  Yes | 91.6 | 88.2 | 95.1 | 87.7 | 93.0 | 85.7 | 95.4 | 88.2 | 96.1 | 88.4 | 94.7 | 77.0 | |
Frequency of alcohol use (N=15,972) | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
  Never | 7.4 | 10.7 | 6.2 | 18.8 | 7.3 | 16.6 | 6.8 | 13.7 | 5.1 | 14.5 | 9.6 | 23.8 | |
  Monthly or less | 13.0 | 28.1 | 14.7 | 33.7 | 16.6 | 28.4 | 9.4 | 19.5 | 9.2 | 16.3 | 9.8 | 15.0 | |
  2–4 times a month | 34.9 | 41.8 | 34.3 | 26.4 | 26.6 | 24.4 | 21.2 | 20.1 | 14.5 | 16.0 | 16.1 | 12.4 | |
  2–3 times a week | 34.1 | 17.1 | 31.9 | 15.4 | 27.7 | 18.0 | 29.3 | 21.6 | 24.3 | 18.7 | 16.3 | 18.0 | |
  4–5 times a week | 7.5 | 1.8 | 8.2 | 3.7 | 10.8 | 6.9 | 14.2 | 10.8 | 16.2 | 12.5 | 15.5 | 10.7 | |
  6–7 times a week | 3.2 | .6 | 4.8 | 2.0 | 11.0 | 5.6 | 19.1 | 14.3 | 30.6 | 22.0 | 32.7 | 20.2 | |
Weekly alcohol quantity (N=12,828) | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
  3 glasses or less | 22.0 | 39.5 | 23.9 | 52.1 | 24.6 | 46.4 | 20.5 | 35.6 | 14.6 | 29.3 | 17.5 | 30.7 | |
  4–7 glasses | 20.1 | 29.8 | 27.0 | 28.4 | 27.6 | 30.3 | 24.0 | 31.8 | 23.2 | 29.4 | 28.5 | 29.6 | |
  8–14 glasses | 23.4 | 19.1 | 28.2 | 13.8 | 25.7 | 17.4 | 31.5 | 22.3 | 29.9 | 25.8 | 26.4 | 25.4 | |
  15–21 glasses | 17.4 | 6.3 | 10.5 | 3.0 | 12.8 | 3.4 | 13.6 | 7.8 | 18.6 | 10.5 | 15.1 | 11.3 | |
  More than 21 glasses | 17.2 | 5.4 | 10.3 | 2.7 | 9.3 | 2.5 | 10.4 | 2.7 | 13.8 | 5.0 | 12.5 | 3.1 | |
Preferred beverage (N=14,407) | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
  Wine | 2.3 | 37.3 | 14.0 | 56.5 | 22.0 | 66.3 | 31.3 | 79.9 | 37.9 | 82.4 | 46.3 | 85.3 | |
  Beer | 70.4 | 13.7 | 64.0 | 11.4 | 53.3 | 8.5 | 49.4 | 5.4 | 41.4 | 4.0 | 25.8 | 2.3 | |
  Strong drinks | 13.0 | 29.2 | 8.5 | 19.8 | 8.6 | 14.0 | 7.1 | 5.2 | 8.3 | 5.1 | 12.7 | 4.5 | |
  No preference | 14.3 | 19.7 | 13.5 | 12.3 | 16.2 | 11.2 | 12.1 | 9.5 | 12.4 | 8.4 | 15.2 | 7.9 | |
Urges to drink alcohol | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
Social situations (N=15,052) | No | 20.0 | 23.1 | 12.4 | 23.5 | 18.1 | 26.9 | 19.1 | 30.2 | 21.3 | 31.9 | 32.2 | 35.9 |
| Â | Mild | 52.5 | 58.3 | 55.2 | 56.4 | 56.0 | 57.4 | 62.6 | 58.0 | 66.0 | 59.5 | 60.4 | 58.3 |
| Â | Strong | 27.5 | 18.5 | 32.4 | 20.1 | 25.9 | 15.7 | 18.3 | 11.8 | 12.7 | 8.6 | 7.5 | 5.8 |
At dinner (N=14,968) | No | 72.8 | 79.6 | 64.0 | 69.8 | 64.7 | 69.0 | 63.6 | 64.7 | 55.7 | 55.5 | 47.7 | 45.6 |
| Â | Mild | 26.5 | 19.2 | 33.2 | 26.8 | 31.6 | 27.1 | 32.2 | 31.0 | 39.3 | 40.2 | 46.2 | 51.0 |
| Â | Strong | .7 | 1.2 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 4.3 | 6.1 | 3.3 |
After work (N=14,828) | No | 66.1 | 90.5 | 75.4 | 90.5 | 79.7 | 91.2 | 81.3 | 87.7 | 73.9 | 81.3 | 78.0 | 82.2 |
| Â | Mild | 26.9 | 8.6 | 21.2 | 7.9 | 17.8 | 7.0 | 15.2 | 9.6 | 22.2 | 15.4 | 18.5 | 16.4 |
| Â | Strong | 7.0 | .9 | 3.4 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 1.8 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 1.4 |
Relaxing (N=15,000) | No | 36.9 | 53.3 | 39.6 | 54.2 | 39.6 | 51.9 | 28.7 | 41.7 | 25.8 | 40.5 | 36.8 | 38.1 |
| Â | Mild | 51.5 | 41.7 | 51.7 | 41.8 | 48.8 | 42.6 | 62.1 | 52.5 | 67.3 | 53.9 | 59.5 | 58.6 |
| Â | Strong | 11.7 | 5.0 | 8.7 | 4.1 | 11.6 | 5.5 | 9.1 | 5.8 | 6.8 | 5.6 | 3.7 | 3.3 |
Concentrating (N=14,667) | No | 97.3 | 98.3 | 98.0 | 99.0 | 97.4 | 99.1 | 97.6 | 99.0 | 96.3 | 96.5 | 93.5 | 96.3 |
| Â | Mild | 2.6 | 1.6 | 1.7 | .9 | 2.3 | .8 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 6.3 | 3.7 |
| Â | Strong | .1 | .1 | .3 | .1 | .3 | .1 | .1 | .1 | .3 | .2 | .2 | 0 |
Under stress (N=14,705) | No | 79.8 | 84.0 | 80.2 | 84.6 | 82.2 | 82.9 | 78.1 | 78.2 | 74.4 | 72.9 | 75.1 | 73.4 |
| Â | Mild | 16.4 | 13.0 | 16.2 | 11.9 | 15.5 | 13.9 | 18.0 | 17.6 | 20.6 | 21.7 | 19.9 | 21.2 |
| Â | Strong | 3.8 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 5.0 | 5.4 |
No. of intoxications (N=8,885) | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
  Once or twice | 29.3 | 39.6 | 14.7 | 32.1 | 18.6 | 37.9 | 22.3 | 44.5 | 25.6 | 50.9 | 36.3 | 55.3 | |
  3–5 times | 26.4 | 32.2 | 21.0 | 30.9 | 21.7 | 34.3 | 32.8 | 35.8 | 33.5 | 29.7 | 31.8 | 28.5 | |
  6–10 times | 18.3 | 13.7 | 23.2 | 17.1 | 19.9 | 16.2 | 23.9 | 13.1 | 22.0 | 12.1 | 18.0 | 10.6 | |
  11–25 times | 13.6 | 7.8 | 14.2 | 11.4 | 16.0 | 7.1 | 10.5 | 3.6 | 10.5 | 4.4 | 9.0 | 4.9 | |
  More than 25 times | 12.5 | 6.7 | 26.9 | 8.4 | 23.8 | 4.5 | 10.5 | 3.0 | 8.4 | 2.9 | 4.8 | .8 | |
Alcohol abuse disorder symptoms (N=15,227) | 35.2 | 20.9 | 41.4 | 18.2 | 32.5 | 17.1 | 34.1 | 22.2 | 36.6 | 23.3 | 28.0 | 16.2 | |
Hazardous drinking (N=15,467) | 29.5 | 13.0 | 22.7 | 7.2 | 19.1 | 6.6 | 16.6 | 9.8 | 18.6 | 9.4 | 12.7 | 5.5 | |
| Â | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | mean (sd) | |
Age at alcohol initiation (N=15,155) | 14.5 | 14.6 | 15.1 | 15.5 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 15.4 | 16.5 | 16.3 | 17.8 | 18.1 | 20.4 | |
| Â | (2.0) | (1.7) | (2.4) | (2.4) | (2.5) | (2.9) | (2.3) | (3.0) | (2.8) | (4.4) | (4.2) | (6.8) | |
Age at onset regular drinking (N=8,483) | 16.7 | 16.9 | 18.2 | 19.6 | 19.1 | 22.6 | 20.4 | 25.5 | 22.6 | 29.6 | 27.8 | 33.3 | |
| Â | (1.2) | (1.6) | (3.0) | (4.9) | (4.0) | (6.3) | (5.8) | (8.9) | (8.4) | (11.1) | (12.0) | (12.7) | |
Age at first intoxication (N=10,102) | 16.5 | 16.6 | 17.4 | 18.9 | 18.2 | 20.9 | 18.7 | 22.2 | 20.4 | 25.3 | 24.3 | 32.2 | |
| Â | (1.3) | (1.5) | (2.7) | (3.4) | (3.0) | (5.4) | (3.9) | (7.0) | (5.0) | (8.3) | (8.3) | (11.0) | |