Psychosocial Variables Related to Quantity of Alcohol Consumed at a Single Session by Young Czech Males

Results based on interviews with a representative sample of 1,050 men aged 22–33, all residents of Prague, Czechoslovakia, are presented. The number of drinks consumed during the last drinking session was the dependent variable in a hierarchical stepwise multiple regression using 32 developmental, social, psychological and situational measures as independent variables. In the stepwise procedure, 17 variables were accepted as statistically significant predictor of the last session's consumption. Undisciplined behaviour in childhood is the strongest developmental predictors of high consumption, tolerant drinking norm of friends is the best social predictor, an appreciative attitude toward intoxicating drinking is the primary psychological predictor, and the context of drinking (social versus nutritional) heads the situational predictors. In summary, the more or less enduring individual characteristics explain 17% of the consumption variance and the situational variables explain an additional 11%.