Johnson F W, Gruenewald P J, Treno A J, Taff G A
Prevention Research Center, Berkeley, California 94704, USA.
J Stud Alcohol. 1998 Sep;59(5):568-80. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1998.59.568.
This study examines drinking patterns over the life course among males and females and among three ethnic groups (whites, blacks and Hispanics) in order to compare gender group and ethnic group differences in alcohol use as a continuous function of age.
Data are from a general population sample of 13,553 respondents aged 12 to 80 interviewed by telephone in 20 urban areas of the United States. Drinking measures include total consumption, drinking participation, drinking frequency and average drinks per occasion.
In the total sample over age cohorts, total consumption, participation and average drinks per occasion rose rapidly before age 21, peaked in young adulthood and declined gradually thereafter. Drinking frequency rose rapidly before age 21, but generally showed no decline thereafter. As expected, compared to women, men consumed more total alcohol, were more likely to participate in drinking, drank more often and drank more per occasion. Men did not differ from women in the age at which peak drinking occurred. Relationships of drinking to ethnicity were more complex. Although white total consumption exceeded that of blacks and Hispanics over the entire life course, the other drinking measures involved interactions in which white participation and frequency exceeded that of blacks and Hispanics in later adulthood, but black and Hispanic average drinks per occasion exceeded that of whites in later adulthood.
Differences in drinking patterns over the life course among gender groups and ethnic groups are largely a result of differences in rates of change over age cohorts in alcohol use, both in rates of increase in youth and of decrease thereafter.
本研究调查了男性和女性以及三个种族群体（白人、黑人和西班牙裔）在整个生命历程中的饮酒模式，以便比较饮酒量作为年龄连续函数时性别群体和种族群体之间的差异。
数据来自美国20个城市地区通过电话采访的13553名年龄在12至80岁之间的普通人群样本。饮酒量的测量包括总消费量、饮酒参与度、饮酒频率和每次饮酒的平均量。
在整个年龄队列的总样本中，总消费量、参与度和每次饮酒的平均量在21岁之前迅速上升，在青年期达到峰值，此后逐渐下降。饮酒频率在21岁之前迅速上升，但此后一般没有下降。正如预期的那样，与女性相比，男性的总饮酒量更多，更有可能参与饮酒，饮酒频率更高，每次饮酒量也更多。男性和女性在饮酒峰值出现的年龄上没有差异。饮酒与种族的关系更为复杂。虽然在整个生命历程中白人的总消费量超过了黑人和西班牙裔，但其他饮酒量测量涉及交互作用，即白人的参与度和频率在成年后期超过了黑人和西班牙裔，但黑人和西班牙裔每次饮酒的平均量在成年后期超过了白人。
性别群体和种族群体在整个生命历程中的饮酒模式差异，很大程度上是由于不同年龄队列中饮酒量变化率的差异，包括青年期的增加率和此后的下降率。
