What Influences Changes in Alcoholic Beverage Consumption Over Time? Poland in the Light of the European Union Amphora Study

Abstract

This paper is based on the Polish country-level final report of the European Union Amphora study: contextual determinants and alcohol polices. The authors present the results of a time series analysis model designed to explore and explain the influence of selected alcoholic beverage control policy measures and unplanned sociodemographical determinants on changes in alcoholic beverage consumption from 1960 to the 2000s in Poland. Complex historical and social changes are described, which occurred during the 50 years covered by the study. The study findings confirmed that sociodemographical determinants have an important influence on alcoholic beverage consumption. Study limitations are noted and future research is suggested.

Keywords :

• alcohol consumption
• alcoholic beverage control policies
• sociodemographical changes

Notes

1 This relatively new term, introduced into the intervention literature by Friedman et al. (Samuel R. Friedman, Diana Rossi, Peter L. Flom. (2006). “Big events” and networks: Thoughts on what could be going on. Connections, 27(1), 9–14.) refers to major events such as mega disasters, natural, as well as man-made, famine, conflict, genocide, disparities in health, epidemics, mass migrations, economic recessions, etc., which effect adaptation, functioning, and quality of life of individuals, as well as systems. Existential threat, instability, and chaos are major dimensions and loss of control over one's life is experienced. Editor's note.

² Solidarity (Polish: Solidarność) Independent Self-Governing Trade Union emerged on August 31, 1980, at the Gdansk Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. This was the first trade union to become independent from a communist government among the socialistic countries.

3 The Schengen Area is the area comprising 26 European countries, with a population of more than 400 million people, which have abolished passport and immigration controls at their common borders, also referred to as internal borders. It functions as a single country for international travel purposes, with a common visa policy. The Area is named after the Schengen Agreement created in 1995. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area. Downloaded February 6, 2014.

4 The reader is referred to the following books, which explore the “failures” of many underlying assumptions: Ormerod, P. (2005) Why most things fail: Evolution, extinction and economics. UK: Faber & Faber; Miller, M. (2010). The tyranny of dead ideas. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Editor's note; Tilly, C. (2006). Why. Princeton University Press—for a stimulating analysis about generic “causative” reasons given in the West; Tilly, C. (2008). Credit and blame. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press—for an important analysis about “blame;” Einstein, S. (Ed.) (2013). Special issue on substance use(r) intervention failures. Substance Use & Misuse, 47,13–14.

5 The reader interested in the complexities of “cause and effect” is referred to Hills's criteria for causation, which were developed in order to help assist researchers and clinicians determine if risk factors were causes of a particular disease or outcomes or merely associated. (Hill, A. B. (1965). The environment and disease: Associations or causation? Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 58, 295–300). Editor's note.

6 These stakeholders included local and foreign producers of alcohol, The Polish Beer-Lovers’ Party (Polska Partia Przyjaciół Piwa—PPPP), The Free Word Coalition—fighting for legalization of alcohol advertisements, liberal economists, liberal media.

7 Baccini M., & Carreras G. (2014) Analyzing the effect of policy measures and socio-demographic factors on alcohol consumption in Europe within the AMPHORA project: Statistical methods. Substance Use & Misuse…; also AMPHORA Work Package 3 (2013) Report of an analysis of European alcohol-related cultural, social and policy interactions and their impact on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm, Part 1 (http://amphoraproject. net/w2box/data/Deliverables/AMPHORA_WP3_D3.2.pdf)

8 In the special issue paper (Allamani A., Voller F., Baccini M., Massini G., & Pepe P. (2014). Europe. An analysis of changes in the consumption of alcoholic beverages: The interaction between consumption, related harms, contextual factors and alcoholic beverage control policies. Substance Use & Misuse…)