Drinking patterns in experimental and barroom settings.

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Abstract
Variations in the drinking patterns of casual and heavy drinkers under different environmental conditions were observed in 2 separate studies. In the 1st study, 34 men volunteers (mean age 24) who described themselves as casual or heavy drinkers, were given free access to alcohol for 20 days while living on a residential research ward. The men could operate a simple manipulandum to obtain alcohol or money. Half the subjects had to pay 50.cents. per drink all the time; for the other half, the price was reduced to 25.cents. during a 3 h happy hour each afternoon (NHH and HH groups). Subjects in the HH group drank more than twice as much alcohol over the 20 day period as did those in the NHH group (casual drinkers, 20.9 vs. 10.1 drinks; heavy drinkers, 117.6 vs. 49.6 drinks). Casual drinkers in the HH group consumed significantly more drinks per episode than did those in the NHH group and consumed 5 or more drinks in 1 episode more frequently. Heavy drinkers in the HH group engaged in more drinking episodes than did their counterparts in the NHH group and more frequently had 5 or more drinks per episode. Total alcohol consumption, number of drinking episodes and frequency of episodes involving 5 or more drinks were positively correlated, suggesting a consistent relationship between amount, frequency and intensity of drinking. Although the frequencies of various types of drinking episodes differed according to type of drinker and price condition, the shape of the distributions (positively skewed, unimodal) was similar across all groups. In the 2nd study, the drinking patterns of 16 regular bar patrons (8 women) were observed over a 6 wk period in a neighborhood tavern that had a happy hour (reduced price) each day from 1500-1700 h. Four of the 16 subjects (HH patrons) drank daily at the bar during and after the happy hour; the other 12 (NHH patrons) did not drink before 1700 h on any of the study days. HH patrons drank an average of 9.56 drinks per day and NHH patrons 3.73; HH patrons engaged in more drinking episodes, drank more per episode and more frequently drank 5 or more drinks than NHH patrons. The episode frequency distributions were unimodal and highly skewed and there was a positive relationship between total consumption, number of drinking episodes and frequency of multiple-drink episodes.