There was sufficient variation between countries in the pattern of responses and variation in gender differences to conclude that the set of consequence items was responsive to national and gender differences in problem drinking. Frequency of drinking was not a good indicator of problem drinking. The country differences in item total correlations of consequences might be due to differences in how these items are interpreted. Decisions on which items to include in an instrument to allow comparison of estimates of problem drinking cross-nationally require studies on how these items are interpreted in general populations of different countries.
The focus of this paper is on informal control of drinking, indicated by criticism of people in the social network on someone's alcohol consumption. It studies country and gender differences in the extent drinkers suffering from typical symptoms of heavy or prolonged alcohol use report informal control from others (reactive informal control), and country and gender differences in the extent comments on someone's drinking are (also) directed at those who do not suffer from these symptoms (pro-active informal control). The data come from eighteen general population surveys, selected from an integrated dataset on drinking and drinking-related factors including more than 35 countries. The criteria for inclusion were that data for both men and women were available and that at least 3 items about symptoms of severe physiological consequences and about criticism of drinking had valid responses. The results show that men suffering from typical symptoms of heavy or prolonged alcohol use are more likely to be criticized than equivalent women (reactive control). Irrespective of gender, reactive informal control is more prevalent in poorer countries and in countries with a high proportion of abstainers. Concerning pro-active control, among women a larger part of criticism appeared to be directed at those who (as yet) do not suffer from symptoms typical for heavy or prolonged alcohol use. There is a lot of variation between countries in proactive informal control. This variation is only weakly related to prosperity of a country but not to its proportion of abstainers.
Aim. A cross-national comparison of perceived availability of alcoholic beverages and cannabis, and of the influence of availability on consumption of and problems due to alcohol and cannabis. Method. National surveys of school-going adolescents (14-18 years) in France and the Netherlands were used. The questionnaire was comparable for all measures used in this study. We distinguished between problems with peers, with socializing agents and adverse events (e.g. fights). Cross-tabulations and logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results. Compared with the French, Dutch adolescents perceive alcoholic beverages and cannabis as more easily available. Among the youngest (up to 17 years) the country difference is very small (3-4%). Perceived availability is of influence on alcohol and cannabis consumption, and on problems attributed to alcohol or cannabis consumption. In the Netherlands, the influence of perceived availability on alcohol consumption is stronger. When controlling for other variables, French adolescents are more likely to report problems due to cannabis use. Conclusions. The difference in cannabis policy between the two countries has a limited influence on perceived availability. Perceiving a substance as difficult to get prevents (frequent) use of alcohol and cannabis and prevents cannabis-related problems. A stronger enforcement of existing alcohol laws is recommended for the Netherlands. There are differences between France and the Netherlands in problems attributed to alcohol and cannabis which cannot be interpreted in the context of differences in policy
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