Moderate Drinking on the Rise

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Over the past decade, the overall percentage of Americans who drink alcohol has remained fairly stable, but among those who drink, the reported frequency of drinking and amount of alcohol consumed have risen. Roughly three in five Americans tell Gallup that they occasionally drink alcohol, while the remaining two in five are "total abstainers." Among those who drink, the percentage saying they have had at least one drink in the past week has risen from 48% in 1992 to 68% today. The sharpest increase in reported drinking has come in the past three years.

Number of Alcoholic Drinks Consumed in Past Week Based on Drinkers

Over the same period, there has not been a similar increase in the percentage of American drinkers admitting that they sometimes drink more than they should -- that figure is 24% today -- or in the percentage of Americans saying drinking has been the cause of problems in their family -- now 31%.

Gallup also does not see a recent shift in Americans' alcoholic beverage choices. Beer remains the drink of choice for more American drinkers than either wine or liquor. Preference for beer is somewhat lower today than in 1992, as wine has gained popularity. However, these preferences stabilized between 1999 and 2000 and have not changed much since.

Do You Most Often Drink Liquor, Wine, or Beer? Based on Drinkers

Big Increase in Light Drinking

Gallup found a sharp decline since 1992 in the percentage of adult drinkers (defined as those who say that they are not total abstainers) having no drinks in the past week -- mostly offset by an increase in those having between one and seven drinks in the week. The percentage of drinkers consuming this relatively light amount rose from 36% to 50%. The percentage having eight or more drinks rose from 12% to 18%.

Number of Alcoholic Drinks Consumed in Past Week Based on Drinkers

Most Americans Drinking "Moderately"

News reports in recent years have highlighted the controversial finding that moderate drinking is associated with lower incidence of heart problems. Many medical experts are reluctant to recommend that a person begin consuming alcohol (because of the significant problems associated with problem-drinking and alcoholism), but a common medical recommendation for moderate drinking is one drink per day for non-pregnant women and two drinks per day for men. This translates into as many as 7 drinks per week for women and 14 drinks per week for men.

Few Americans report drinking more than this amount, and the vast majority of drinkers say they had either no drinks in the past week, or only 1 to 7 drinks. The following table breaks this out by gender, showing that, according to the reported number of drinks consumed in the past week, the majority of men and women are within the accepted range of moderate drinking for their gender.

Nearly 9 in 10 men (87%) had consumed no more than 14 drinks in the past week. Only 12% of men admitted to drinking more than this. The figures are similar for women, with 89% of women falling within the range of acceptable drinking, saying they had no more than seven drinks in the past week. Another 10% drank more than that.

Because drinking may be concentrated on certain days rather than evenly distributed throughout the week, the previous figures don't tell the full story. A Gallup question asking drinkers if they ever drink more than they think they should clarifies the extent of problem-drinking in America, and finds that nearly a quarter of drinkers occasionally overdo it. The rate of overindulgence is slightly higher for men (27%) than for women (20%).

(It is important to note that retrospective self-reports of weekly behavior are estimates on the part of the respondent, and it is not unreasonable to hypothesize that heavy drinkers might minimize their estimates of alcohol consumed in response to these types of questions.)

No Clear Change in Negative Effects of Drinking

Gallup trends on alcohol-related issues reveal some shifts in the rate of reported problems associated with drinking, but these changes are not entirely consistent with the generally gradual increase in drinking seen over the past decade.

Since 1992, the percentage of Americans saying they sometimes drink more alcohol than they should has declined somewhat, from 29% to 24% today -- running counterintuitive to the apparent increase in drinking. However, rather than declining gradually, the percentage reporting that they sometimes drink too much has bounced around between 20% and 29%.

Do You Sometimes Drink More Alcoholic Beverages Than You Think You Should? Based on Drinkers

Similarly, the percentage of all Americans reporting that drinking has been a cause of trouble in their family has varied between 23% and 36% since 1992, with no clear direction in the movement.

Has Drinking Ever Been a Cause of Trouble in Your Family?

Few Americans Consider Alcohol Beneficial to Health

Despite studies in recent years pointing to some health benefits associated with moderate drinking, the message about alcohol's potential health benefits does not seem to have reached the public. Americans are as likely to believe that moderate drinking is bad for one's health (25%) as believe it is good for one's health (24%), while the largest segment believes it makes no difference (49%).

Do you, personally, think drinking in moderation -- that is, one or two drinks a day -- is good for your health, makes no difference, or is bad for your health?

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,006 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted July 7-9, 2003. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

28. Do you have occasion to use alcoholic beverages such as liquor, wine or beer, or are you a total abstainer?

29. When did you last take a drink of any kind of alcoholic beverage?

BASED ON –656—WHO DRINK ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

30. (If drank within past week) Approximately how many drinks of any kind of alcoholic beverages did you drink in the past seven days?

BASED ON –656—WHO DRINK ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

31. Do you most often drink liquor, wine, or beer?

BASED ON –656—WHO DRINK ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

32. Do you sometimes drink more alcoholic beverages than you think you should?

BASED ON –656—WHO DRINK ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

33. Has drinking ever been a cause of trouble in your family?

34. Do you, personally, think drinking in moderation -- that is, one or two drinks a day -- [ROTATED: is good for your health, makes no difference, or is bad for your health]?