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Date: | Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:27:07 -0500 |
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Another problem: 1.25oz for a drink of spirits is a bit weak. Shouldn't
it be 1.5 oz.?And I thought 5 oz of wine was = to one drink. I'm glad
these guys aren't my bartender.
Rich Dubiel
-----Original Message-----
From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jim McIntosh
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 8:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: definition of binge drinking
The original measure of binge drinking became popular in the early
1990s (JAMA, 12/7/94) when Henry Wechsler and team reported on their
research on college student drinking. They "operationalized" binge
drinking as five drinks for a male in the last two weeks at one event
and four drinks for a female in the last two weeks at one event. They
also created measures of frequent binge drinking and infrequent binge
drinking, later changed to occasional binge drinker. A drink was
defined as 12 oz beer, 4 0z wine, 12 oz wine cooler and 1.25 oz of
spirits. The initial reaction to the research was an explosion of
publicity and has led to the idea that "binge drinking" is a proxie for
any drinking considered too much, ill-advised, dangerous or just plain
stupid. You are right, David, in that binge drinking used to refer to
someone on a bender, a toot, a prolonged drinking bout over several
days, It is interesting that the Journal of Studies on Alcohol
instructs its authors that if they want to use the term it must be
defined in the traditional manner. There seems to be a disconnect
between the definition and the empirical measure of binge drinking.
cheers, Jim
--
James R. McIntosh
Professor & Chair
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
Lehigh University
681 Taylor Street
Tel. 610 758 3809
Fax: 610 758 6552
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