Moore Simon C, Wood Alex M, Moore Laurence, Shepherd Jonathan, Murphy Simon, Brown Gordon D A
Violence & Society Research Group, School of Dentistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, CF14 4XY, UK.
Behavioural Science Centre, Stirling Management School, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, FK9 4LA, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2016 Sep 13;16:798. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3469-z.
A rank based social norms model predicts that drinkers' judgements about their drinking will be based on the rank of their breath alcohol level amongst that of others in the immediate environment, rather than their actual breath alcohol level, with lower relative rank associated with greater feelings of safety. This study tested this hypothesis and examined how people judge their levels of drunkenness and the health consequences of their drinking whilst they are intoxicated in social drinking environments.
Breath alcohol testing of 1,862 people (mean age = 26.96 years; 61.86 % male) in drinking environments. A subset (N = 400) also answered four questions asking about their perceptions of their drunkenness and the health consequences of their drinking (plus background measures).
Perceptions of drunkenness and the health consequences of drinking were regressed on: (a) breath alcohol level, (b) the rank of the breath alcohol level amongst that of others in the same environment, and (c) covariates. Only rank of breath alcohol level predicted perceptions: How drunk they felt (b 3.78, 95 % CI 1.69 5.87), how extreme they regarded their drinking that night (b 3.7, 95 % CI 1.3 6.20), how at risk their long-term health was due to their current level of drinking (b 4.1, 95 % CI 0.2 8.0) and how likely they felt they would experience liver cirrhosis (b 4.8. 95 % CI 0.7 8.8). People were more influenced by more sober others than by more drunk others.
Whilst intoxicated and in drinking environments, people base judgements regarding their drinking on how their level of intoxication ranks relative to that of others of the same gender around them, not on their actual levels of intoxication. Thus, when in the company of others who are intoxicated, drinkers were found to be more likely to underestimate their own level of drinking, drunkenness and associated risks. The implications of these results, for example that increasing the numbers of sober people in night time environments could improve subjective assessments of drunkenness, are discussed.
基于排名的社会规范模型预测，饮酒者对自身饮酒情况的判断将基于其呼气酒精含量在周围环境其他人中的排名，而非实际呼气酒精含量，相对排名越低，安全感越高。本研究对这一假设进行了检验，并考察了人们在社交饮酒环境中醉酒时如何判断自己的醉酒程度以及饮酒对健康的影响。
在饮酒环境中对1862人（平均年龄 = 26.96岁；61.86%为男性）进行呼气酒精测试。其中一部分人（N = 400）还回答了四个关于他们对醉酒程度及饮酒对健康影响的看法的问题（以及背景测量问题）。
对醉酒程度及饮酒对健康影响的看法与以下因素进行回归分析：（a）呼气酒精含量，（b）呼气酒精含量在同一环境其他人中的排名，以及（c）协变量。只有呼气酒精含量排名能预测这些看法：他们感觉有多醉（b = 3.78，95%置信区间1.69至5.87），他们认为当晚饮酒有多过度（b = 3.7，95%置信区间1.3至6.20），他们认为由于当前饮酒水平长期健康面临的风险有多大（b = 4.1，95%置信区间0.2至8.0）以及他们感觉自己患肝硬化的可能性有多大（b = 4.8，95%置信区间0.7至8.8）。人们受比自己清醒的人的影响大于受比自己醉的人的影响。
在醉酒且处于饮酒环境中时，人们对自己饮酒情况的判断基于其醉酒程度相对于周围同性其他人的排名，而非实际醉酒程度。因此，当与其他醉酒的人在一起时，饮酒者更有可能低估自己的饮酒量、醉酒程度及相关风险。文中讨论了这些结果的意义，例如增加夜间环境中清醒者的数量可能会改善对醉酒程度的主观评估。
