How Are All Drinking Occasions, Intoxication Occasions, and All Alcohol Consumed Distributed Across Different Drinking Occasion Types? A Typology of Drinking Occasions in Finland
Research article
Abstract
Objective
To understand the contexts and characteristics of alcohol consumption occasions, the researchers typologized alcohol consumptions occasions and examined how different aspects of alcohol use vary in them and what part of population-level alcohol use and intoxication occasions each covers.
Method
A Finnish general population survey in 2016 (n = 2,285) with event-level data on alcohol consumption occasions (n = 6,697) was used. Occasion types were identified by latent class analysis. The characteristics of the alcohol consumption occasions were:
- location,
- purpose,
- company,
- timing,
- duration,
- the amounts and beverages consumed, and
- estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC).
Results
Eight alcohol consumption occasion classes were identified. The three most common ones were all light alcohol consumption occasions at home, with the company varying.
Five of the eight types were about socializing with people beyond the family.
The heaviest alcohol consumption occasion type, “big party nights,” had an average eBAC of .12%, which seemed to be connected to the long duration of these occasions.
The most important contributors to total population-level intoxication occasions were “big party nights” and “at home with the family” occasions (accounting for 30% and 20%, respectively).
In terms of contributions to the population’s total alcohol consumption, the order of these classes was reversed (19% and 26%, respectively).
Alcohol use at home with no visitors covered 40% of all the alcohol consumed in Finland. Different types of occasions varied little in beverage type composition.
Conclusions
For acute harm, “big party nights” are important to consider because of the prevalence of intoxication, whereas for chronic harm, alcohol use at home without visitors is even more important to consider.
