Citation

Eward AM, Wolfe R, Moll P, Harburg E. Am. J. Public Health 1986; 76(1): 68-70.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, American Public Health Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

3940456

PMCID

PMC1646411

Abstract

Studies of the health effects associated with alcohol consumption often use a single non-drinker category as a referent. In this community study (N = 1,672) from Tecumseh, Michigan, past drinkers (N = 191) and life-long abstainers (N = 215) differed substantially for certain behavioral and psychosocial factors. In addition, 65 per cent of the male and 36 per cent of the female non-drinkers were past drinkers. Our findings suggest that a single non-drinking category might lead to ambiguous inferences across studies.

Language: en