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Abstract
A deeper understanding of drinking practices of a population requires a study of the situations in which people drink, i.e. the context of drinking. This study explores the changes and continuities in the prevalence and nature of drinking in terms of place, company, time and the social drinking context, during a period when overall alcohol consumption in Finland grew by half and drinking culture at large was transformed radically. Analyses were based on two national drinking habits surveys with a representative sample of the Finnish population aged 15–69 years in 1976 (N = 2835) and 2008 (N = 2725). In addition, original semi-qualitative data in 2008 were utilized, using a 15-category social drinking context typology, with the results contrasted to previously reported results from 1976. Overall, the number of drinking occasions increased between 1976 and 2008. A major part of the increase comprised drinking in home settings and with one's partner. The weekly rhythm of drinking was also concentrated on weekends even more than before. Changes in the nature of drinking showed that the typical degree of intoxication decreased for men and increased for women. The proportion of heavy drinking occasions decreased for men especially in home settings and for women, remained the same across drinking contexts except for single gender contexts. Changes in social drinking contexts reflected an overall shifting of drinking into the private sphere, with a major increase in the proportion of evenings at home and sauna drinking.