Abstract
Three nationwide surveys from the years 1992, 1993, and 1996 were used to study whether basic features of Finnish drinking habits changed in the 1990s. Two factors that might have produced changes are the deep economic depression since 1991 and Finland's EU membership since 1995. The effects of the depression were visible in a decline in overall alcohol consumption after 1991, which recovered to the earlier level by 1996. The effects of EU membership involved, among many other things, certain administrative structures of the Finnish alcohol monopoly system. However, basic features of drinking patterns, like abstinence, drinking frequency, frequency of binge drinking, and the distribution of alcohol consumption, have remained untouched by those external changes. This can be taken as further evidence that drinking patterns typically change very slowly.
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