Linsky A S, Colby J P, Straus M A
J Stud Alcohol. 1986 Sep;47(5):384-93. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1986.47.384.
One of Bales's three related hypotheses concerning how cultures or social structures influence the level of alcoholism in a population--that culturally determined attitudes toward drinking and intoxication determine whether alcohol will be used to relieve the stress generated in a society--is examined in the first systematic test of that hypothesis based on American data. A proscriptive norm index was computed for each of the 50 states based on percentage population residing in legally dry areas, the degree of legal restrictions on the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and the percentage population of Mormons and Fundamentalists. The most proscriptive states are located in the southern region of the United States. Proscriptive norms are significantly correlated with all of the indicators of alcohol-related problems studied. Most of the correlations remain significant when five other variables are controlled. Proscriptive norms are negatively correlated with the indicators of heavy drinking, but positively correlated with the "social disruptiveness" of alcohol (arrest data). Thus driving while intoxicated and other alcohol-related arrests do not appear to arise as a response to the total amount of drinking. Instead, such alcohol-related problems appear to be a response to the strong cultural disapproval of drinking, with the proscriptively oriented states experiencing the highest rates of disruptive behaviors related to alcohol. The findings are consistent with a social control explanation for this link.
贝尔斯提出了三个关于文化或社会结构如何影响人群中酗酒程度的相关假设,其中一个假设是,文化决定的对饮酒和醉酒的态度决定了酒精是否会被用来缓解社会产生的压力。本文基于美国数据对该假设进行了首次系统测试。根据居住在法定禁酒区的人口百分比、对酒精饮料销售或消费的法律限制程度以及摩门教徒和原教旨主义者的人口百分比,计算了美国50个州各自的禁令规范指数。禁令最严格的州位于美国南部地区。禁令规范与所研究的所有酒精相关问题指标都显著相关。当控制其他五个变量时,大多数相关性仍然显著。禁令规范与大量饮酒指标呈负相关,但与酒精的“社会破坏作用”(逮捕数据)呈正相关。因此,醉酒驾车和其他与酒精相关的逮捕似乎并非因饮酒总量而产生。相反,此类与酒精相关的问题似乎是对强烈文化层面饮酒不赞同态度的一种反应,在禁令导向的州,与酒精相关的破坏性行为发生率最高。这些发现与对此联系的社会控制解释相一致。