Table 3.
Alcohol consumption by drinking group
| Year |
||||||||
| Variable | 1992 | 1994 | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 |
| Panel A: Mean drinks per day | ||||||||
| All | 0.60 | 0.55 | 0.39 | 0.37 | 0.35 | 0.37 | 0.38 | 0.36 |
| Abstainers | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Steady | 1.21 | 1.16a | 0.90 | 0.90 | 0.81 | 0.83 | 0.78 | 0.75 |
| Increasing | 0.72 | 0.74 | 0.92 | 1.10 | 1.30 | 1.61 | 1.89 | 2.05 |
| Decreasing | 0.78 | 0.71 | 0.29 | 0.21 | 0.15 | 0.11 | 0.07 | 0.06 |
| Sporadic | 0.63 | 0.54 | 0.43 | 0.42 | 0.43 | 0.50 | 0.56a | 0.53 |
| Panel B: Heavy drinkers, % | ||||||||
| All | 4.6 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.7 |
| Abstainers | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Steady | 12.4 | 11.6 | 10.7 | 11.3 | 10.1 | 11.0 | 9.6 | 10.4 |
| Increasing | 1.1a | 1.2a | 8.3 | 11.6 | 15.4 | 21.8 | 32.0 | 38.5 |
| Decreasing | 5.3 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.4a | 0.2a |
| Sporadic | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 5.9 |
| Panel C: Abstaining, % | ||||||||
| All | 35.2 | 40.5 | 62.2 | 65.0 | 67.1 | 65.2 | 65.6 | 66.3 |
| Abstainers | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Steady | 0.0 | 1.8 | 23.1 | 25.6 | 28.9 | 25.4 | 25.2 | 27.4 |
| Increasing | 16.6 | 17.9a | 15.6a | 10.0 | 9.7 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Decreasing | 0.0 | 0.0a | 56.8 | 68.7 | 76.9 | 79.9 | 86.3 | 87.9 |
| Sporadic | 20.4 | 37.8 | 59.6 | 60.4 | 60.5 | 53.5 | 52.0 | 51.2 |
| Observations, n | 7,654 | 7,107 | 6,937 | 6,761 | 6,543 | 6,518 | 6,414 | 6,309 |
Notes: Means calculated using survey weights, clustering, and strata.
a
Mean does not differ from abstaining group at 95% level according to t tests of averages for steady, increasing, decreasing, and sporadic drinkers versus abstainers.