ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by discussing attempts to estimate how many drinkers were in each of these categories. The inconsistency and confusion in assessments of the prevalence of drinking problems put epidemiologists – scientists who specialize in assessing the prevalence of diseases – into a rather delicate position. The different measures of the number of alcoholics were widely discrepant and research failed to find any precise distinctions between the different categories of drinker. The relationship between the level of per capita consumption and the prevalence of alcohol related problems was first noticed in periods when the availability of alcohol was suddenly reduced. The increase in per capita consumption in the suburb represented a general move towards heavier drinking throughout the drinking population; there being relatively few overall changes in drinking patterns.
