Wine and other alcoholic beverages/Vino y otras bebidas alcohólicas
.
● Sturla Nordlund and Ståle Østhus,
“What is alcohol abuse? Attitudes to drinking in seven European countries”. Addiction Research & Theory, Vol. 21
No. 5 (2013) 402-409.
Abstract
Aims: To explore
norms for alcohol consumption in different parts of Europe, by studying what
people mean by “alcohol abuse.”
Method: The
participants were presented 18 standardized descriptions of different drinking
patterns, obtained by systematically varying three levels of frequency of
drinking, three levels of intoxication and two levels of context. Random
samples of about 1000 persons aged 15 years and over were drawn from each of
seven countries: Finland, Germany, Italy (Tuscany), Norway, Poland, Slovenia,
and Spain. The participants were asked if they would call each of the
descriptions “abuse” or not. As a measure of the “normative climate” in each
country, the mean number of descriptions labeled “abuse” was calculated. We
also estimated the conditional probabilities for using the different levels of
the dimensions (frequency, intoxication, and context), given that the
description was labeled “abuse.” This gave a quite easy comparison of the
relative importance people in each country gave the different dimensions when
they evaluated a drinking pattern as “abuse.”
Results: Three
distinct groups of countries appeared: The Nordic countries had the lowest
number of descriptions labeled as “abuse,” and Tuscany and Slovenia the
highest. The other countries came in the middle.
Conclusion: It
seems that norms for alcohol consumption vary geographically over Europe in a
way that justifies the often used, but seldom defined, concept of “alcohol
culture.” Southern European cultural settings suggest a normative system
allowing for higher per capita consumption levels but also offering more
restrictive informal norms on intoxication. Nordic countries, on the other
hand, with their more restrictive alcohol policies, show a pattern of lower per
capita consumption levels and less restrictive informal laws governing
intoxication during drinking occasions.
● Johan Bruwer et
al., “Consumer involvement and
associated behaviour in the UK high-end retail off-trade wine market”. The International Review of Retail,
Distribution and Consumer Research (2013) DOI:
10.1080/09593969.2013.839464. . Article
first published online: 23.09.2013 – see: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09593969.2013.839464#.UkhdEzabtlY
● Sonia García-Muñoz et al., “Sensory characterisation and
factors influencing quality of wines made from 18 minor varieties (Vitis
vinifera L.)”. Food Quality and
Preference (2013) doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2013.09.005. Article
first published online: 17.09.2013 – see: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329313001511
● Marco Costanigro et al., “The wine
headache: Consumer perceptions of sulfites and willingness to pay for
non-sulfited wines”. Food Quality and
Preference (2013) pii/S0950329313001304. Article first published online: 21.08.2013 –
see: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329313001304
