Changes in drinking behavior: demographic, psychosocial, and biomedical factors.

Demographic, psychosocial, and biomedical variables were collected from 12,371 ambulatory persons who had an initial multiphasic health examination in 1978 or 1979 and a second examination 5 years later in 1983 or 1984. Subgroups of this cohort who had substantially increased and decreased their drinking were compared with persons who continued to drink at baseline rates. A balanced model of demographic, psychosocial, and biomedical variables had the capacity to differentiate persons who had substantially increased their drinking; fewer variables--primarily psychosocial--differentiated persons who had greatly decreased their drinking.