Drinking frequency changes in selected contexts by season in Iowa, 1979-1980.

A panel of individuals was interviewed at three points in time so that both individual and aggregate drinking behavior changes could be investigated during a period of increasing beverage alcohol sales (winter to summer) and a subsequent period of decreasing sales (summer to winter). The seasonal drinking frequency changes in different places, with different companions and in different situations, were generally consistent with the proposition that existing drinking behaviors are quite stable over time (the stability proposition), and also with the proposition that alcohol consumption increases occur without any substitution of new drinking behaviors for existing drinking behaviors (the addition proposition). There was, however, evidence that drinking contexts changed with age and that new drinking behaviors were substituted for old drinking behaviors in some of the subpopulations studied. This suggests that it may be feasible to find ways to encourage the substitution of one kind of drinking behavior for another. Finally, although the results generally support the stability and addition propositions, it is not clear that these characteristics are either necessary or sufficient for increased per capita consumption to produce an increased rate of alcohol-related problems.