Table 1: Drinking behaviour at age 33/34: the 1958 and 1970 cohorts compared
|
Men at age 33 or _______34_______ |
Women at age 33 or 34_______ | |||
|
______________Frequency of drinking |
1991 |
2004 |
1991 |
2004 |
|
Most days______________________ |
17.7 |
22.2 |
7.1 |
11.8 |
|
1,2 or 3 times a week_____________ |
53.7 |
55 |
40.2 |
48.5 |
|
1,2 or 3 times a month_____________ |
15.1 |
10.4 |
23.8 |
13.9 |
|
Less often/special occasions_______ |
10.5 |
7.5 |
22.9 |
18 |
|
Never__________________________ |
_______3_ |
4.9 |
5.9 |
7.9 |
|
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% | |
|
N=5583 |
N=4609 |
N=5784 |
N=5026 | |
Table 2: Weekly units of alcohol at age 33/34: the 1958 and 1970 cohorts
compared
|
Men at age 33 or _______34_______ |
Women at age 33 or 34_______ | |||
|
Alcohol units in a week |
1991 |
2004 |
1991 |
2004 |
|
0-3 units____________________ |
26.7 |
26.8 |
56.4 |
51.7 |
|
4-8 units___________________ |
______17 |
16.9 |
24.3 |
23.1 |
|
9-15 units___________________ |
16.3 |
17.5 |
12.1 |
15.5 |
|
16-35 units_________________ |
26.7 |
26.9 |
6.3 |
8.3 |
|
36 or more units___________ |
13.3 |
11.8 |
________1_ |
1.3 |
|
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% | |
|
N=5607 |
N=4597 |
N=5800 |
N=5024 | |
Focusing just on those cohort members who reported that they drink at least once a
month, the mean units of alcohol consumed per week can be calculated separately
for men and women. For the 1958 cohort the mean weekly alcohol consumption was
found to be 19.6 units for men compared with 7.0 units for women, while for the 1970
cohort the figures were 18.5 units for men and 8.0 units for women. Whereas for men
the alcohol consumption of the two cohorts is very similar and seems to have
declined somewhat, for women there has been an increase. It should also be noted
that the increase for women is relatively modest despite the fact that, as shown in
Table 1, women aged 34 in 2004 are drinking more frequently than women in the
same age group in 1991.
As can be seen from figure 1 and figure 2, the distribution of alcohol consumed at
age 33 (for the 1958 cohort) and at age 34 (for the 1970 cohort) follows the
characteristic positively skewed pattern with progressively fewer people reporting
drinking large numbers of units in the past week. The median for women is
substantially lower than for men in both cohorts and the interquartile range is also
smaller for women than men. However there are a few women who report drinking
very heavily.