[Alcohol and drug use among medical students 1995: more than every tenth male student had hazardous alcohol drinking habits]. / Medicine studerandes alkohol- och drogvanor 1995: mer än var tionde manlig student hade riskabla alkoholvanor.

During the spring of 1995, 734 medical students at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm were randomly selected for inclusion in a postal questionnaire study of alcohol and drug habits. The response rate was over 80 per cent. Although both the level of alcohol consumption and the prevalence of hazardous consumption were lower than the corresponding figures for students at Stockholm and Uppsala Universities, 12 per cent of the male and four per cent of the female medical students were considered to be at risk of alcohol problems. About seven per cent of the medical students reported having used illegal drugs such as hashish, marijuana and cocaine during the past 12-month period, and about nine per cent to have used sedative and/or hypnotic drugs.

Abstinence in late adolescence--antecedents to and covariates of a sober lifestyle and its consequences.

The purpose of this study was first to compare 18-19-year-old male abstainers with alcohol consumers, and especially light consumers, regarding degree of sociability as indicated by their (in)security in the company of others, their number of close friends, intimate conversations with friends and their popularity in school. Secondly, we analysed the importance of antecedents to and covariates of abstinence. In addition, the significant antecedents and covariates gave us information as to abstinence patterns. The study was based on a survey of all Swedish males, 18-19 years old, conscripted for military service in 1969-70. Data had been collected by means of questionnaires and psychological interviews, giving measures of each respondent's social background, psychiatric/psychological and psychosomatic health status, substance use, deviant behaviour and degree of sociability. Poor sociability was more common among the abstainers than among all the other categories of drinkers, including the light consumers. The conscripts' social background, and especially their fathers' drinking habits, had the strongest effects in explaining abstinence. Sixty-two per cent of all abstainers had non-drinking fathers, compared to 28% of the light consumers. As to the majority of abstainers, this indicates a link between the social background of temperance and their own reported abstinence. Their poor sociability could be a consequence of abstaining at a young age when abstinence is uncommon. Those who abstained despite a drinking father showed a worsening psychological status, suggesting a link between psychologically impaired health, poor sociability and abstinence. Though the abstainers were the least sociable, the difference between the abstainers, the light consumers and the moderate consumers in other categories were generally small.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The development of pathological gambling in Sweden.

The development and the social, psychological and cultural conditions of pathological gambling reported by 42 interviewed pathological gamblers were compared with data from 63 pathological gamblers identified by case-finding. The two studies gave similar results. Gambling on horse races, roulette and bingo were the only types showing a progressive increase in involvement over time. When gambling heavily 40% of the pathological gamblers regularily experienced a state of altered consciousness. When abstaining from gambling withdrawal-like symptoms were experienced by a third. Fifty-two percent reported at least one family member often gambling. Pathological gambling appears to be a secret behaviour, although there are collective features in its development.

Social, psychological and physical consequences of pathological gambling in Sweden.

Social, psychological and physical consequences of pathological gambling reported by 42 pathological gamblers recruited mainly by advertising were compared with data on 63 pathological gamblers identified by case-finding within districts of probation, in- and out-patient psychiatric care and social welfare authorities. The two studies gave similar results. Financial breakdown, impaired relations with family and friends, and psychological problems occurred in about 50% of the pathological gamblers. Physical consequences were perceived to be of minor significance. Gambling became a solitary behavior as illegal behaviors to finance gambling increased. The pathological gamblers frequently abused alcohol. Despite these signs of social decay the pathological gamblers strove not to be a burden in society.

Alcohol surveys with high and low coverage rate: a comparative analysis of survey strategies in the alcohol field.

Two Swedish alcohol surveys were compared in a search for a reasonable explanation of the large difference in their coverage rates, namely 75% and 28%. In many respects both surveys conducted in the late 1980s by large, well-known institutes, are of a similar type with rather large samples of Swedes. The technique used in the survey with a very high coverage rate (Survey A) takes into consideration the actual drinking pattern of the population studied (i.e., the concentration of drinking on weekends). By dividing a "normal week's consumption" into four units (Monday-Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday), the technique allows one to average periods with varying drinking habits. In the survey with a low coverage rate (Survey B) a "normal week's consumption" was not so divided. A test of internal validity within Survey A underlined the general finding that its higher coverage rate was due to this division. A test of the external validity at aggregate level did not support assumptions about "telescoping" effects in A. Both A and B had a normal week as a basis of measurement for investigating typical drinking habits. The literature concerning differences in coverage rates focuses on the measurement of modal habits versus mean habits. The main explanation of differences is that methods that focus on modal habits (i.e., the Quantity-Frequency Scale) generate a lower coverage rate than do methods that elicit the arithmetic mean (i.e., the last-week recall). Since A and B both belong to the former type of scale, this does not explain our results.