Search results - CEJSH

1

Gminny Program Profilaktyki i Rozwiązywania Problemów Alkoholowych jako podstawowa forma realizacji zadań własnych gminy z zakresu profilaktyki i rozwiązywania problemów alkoholowych

100%

Biniasz-Celka D.

Studia Prawa Publicznego

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2020

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issue 1(29)

71-93

EN

The system of preventing and resolving alcohol-related problems used in Poland gives municipalities (gminas), as territorial units, the fundamental role in it. The municipality council is obliged to establish a number of programmes on the basis of the act on municipality self-government, as well as the regulations of other acts, including the Act of 26th October 1982 on Upbringing in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism (A.U.S.C.A.) of the Municipality Programme for Preventing and Resolving Alcohol-related Problems (LCPP&RAP). The programme takes into account the areas of action listed in Article 41 section 1 of the A.U.S.C.A. and the indications included in the recommendations developed by the National Agency for Resolving Alcohol-related Problems. It should be emphasized that the implementation of tasks in the field of preventing and resolving alcohol-related problems under the programme is part of the strategy for resolving social problems, and takes into account the operational objectives set out in the National Health Programme. The regulations of the A.U.S.C.A. also provide the municipality witha significant role in implementing actions to tackle alcohol addiction. The actions are taken on three levels by: (1) appointing a local community committee for resolving problems (Article 41 section 3), (2) determining within resolutions the maximum number of permits for the sale of alcoholic beverages and the rules of locating places of sale and serving alcoholic beverages (Article 12 sections 1–3), (3) issuing permits for the sale of alcohol (Article 18 section 1) and monitoring the legitimacy of using these permits (Article 18 section 8). In addition, the LCPP&RAP provides solutions regarding forms, methods and projects undertaken by the municipality. It is important to note that the municipality self-government, as a result of decentralization of the state, has received extensive competence to conduct its own policy on alcohol-related problems, which is why its role is crucial.

2

The effect of alcohol on neuroglia in the developing brain and in adults

93%

Izabela Krawczyk-Marć I., Sabina Galiniak S., Anna Sęk-Mastej A., Mateusz Marć M., Stanisław Orkisz S., Agata Wawrzyniak A.

European Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine

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2018

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issue 4

335-340

EN

Introduction. During puberty, the young body undergoes transformation not only within the reproductive and hormonal systems, but also significant changes in the central nervous system (CNS). Matured neural connections improve the integration of distant brain regions, the plasticity of neurons increases, and thus specialization of the brain occurs in the performance of specific tasks. During these transformations, both neurons and the accompanying neuroglia are sensitive to all toxic factors, among which ethanol occupies a special place. It causes an increase in the activity of glial cells, which by directing pro-inflammatory cytokines directly contribute to the death of apoptotic neurons. A long-lasting and irreversible impairment of brain function, especially in the hippocampus occurs as a result of alcohol abuse during the period of development. Aim. This paper presents an overview of current knowledge about the effects of alcohol on neuroglia in the developing brain and in adults. Materials and methods. The literature review of the following databases has been conducted: EBSCO, PubMed, Science Direct, Springer Link. Conclusions. The results of alcohol research have shown that it affects the neurotransmission and fluidity of cell membranes, changing the activity of neurons. By binding to GABA receptor (GABA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDA receptor for glutamate), ethanol suppresses brain function. In addition to increased sensitivity and susceptibility to the addictive effects of ethanol, the neurogeneration activity is intensified followed by the induction and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which in the first stage disrupt the cortical function hindering logical thinking and disrupting the limbic system, directly affecting the memory and learning processes. Next, the cerebellum is attacked, which results in the impairment of balance and motor coordination, and consequently acts on the brain stem, directly affecting the respiratory and circulatory control centers.

3

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome as a complex disability impeding functioning at school among children

93%

Karłowicz A. A.

Problemy Opiekuńczo-Wychowawcze

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2018

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vol. 571(6)

9-19

EN

The aim of this article is to present the issue of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and its impact on the child’s functioning at school. The fact that every third pregnant woman consumes ethanol calls for a discussion. The article describes the teratogenic effects of alcohol on fetal development. It provides information about the physical anomalies both in terms of external appearance and neurological damage, which translate into mental and socio-emotional development of the child. Defi cits resulting from the teratogenic effects of prenatal alcohol consumption affect the overall functioning of the child in the school system. They are often the cause of many failures and even prevent the child from mastering the skills covered by the core curriculum, which does not remain without effect on the adult life. Pedagogical work with children affected by this syndrome is a huge challenge for teachers. It requires them to master the outstanding competence and knowledge of the specifi cs of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Therefore it is important to talk about this issue and to increase social awareness of the teratogenic effects of alcohol on the fetus.

4

Alkohol, alkoholizm i organizm człowieka

93%

Fronczyk W.

Edukacja Biologiczna i Środowiskowa

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2012

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issue 3

58-66

EN

Our planet Earth, was formed 4,6 billion years ago but the phenomenon of life was not revealed before the creation of water in fluid state and creation of molecular oxygen. One important oxygen compound is ethyl alcohol with its characteristic physical and chemical properties. The Author of the article draws attention to the alcohol metabolism in the human organism and its impact on various organs, systems and tissues, underlining that many issues concerning the biochemical transformations of alcohol remain unexplained.

5

Addictive effects of alcohol

93%

Witek B., Rochon-Szmejchel D., Liedke P.

Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis. Studia ad Didacticam Biologiae Pertinentia

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2016

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issue Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis Studia ad Didacticam Biologiae Pertinentia VI (2016)

85-97

6

Alcohol in the lives of students in Poland and Ukraine - research report

93%

Kempińska U., Rudenko M.

International Journal of Pedagogy, Innovation and New Technologies

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2017

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vol. 4(1)

71-79

EN

Alcoholism is a disease that attacks regardless of age, religion, nationality, sex, level of education, mental health, family situation, socio-economic status or character. Research on students' attitudes towards alcohol was carried out in Poland and Ukraine, in the countries where there is widespread positive feedback on its effects. In wide social circles put to the survey, alcohol consumption is a tradition taking place during different celebrations or almost every meeting. In addition, the use of alcohol means a quick drink up of large quantities of strong alcoholic drinks. This way of drinking does not function as a symbol of the meeting or its background, but becomes the center and the main reason. Alcohol used by teens generally does not cause surprise or concern. Many communities treat alcohol drunk in childhood, as natural and inevitable. It sometimes happens that young people and even children receive the first can of beer or a glass of champagne from the hands of their own parents. Until recently, public awareness of the phenomenon of using psychoactive substances has related to the margin of society, people from the so-called pathological and criminal environments. A little later there were reports that the alcohol and other drugs are in the range of interests of adolescents, coming from "good homes" and having good future prospects. The aim of the study was to investigate the attitudes of Polish and Ukrainian students towards alcohol. The main problem of the research focused on the question: Is there a difference in the attitudes of young people towards alcohol because of the country of origin? Research shows that among the students there is a problem of alcohol abuse. We must therefore start to implement effectively, not just "on paper", alcohol prevention programs already in primary schools.

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Premature mortality due to alcohol-related diseases of the liver in Poland according to voivodships

93%

Paciej P., Ciabiada B., Maniecka-Bryła I.

Family Medicine & Primary Care Review

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2017

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issue 3

251-255

8

Możliwość sprzedaży alkoholu przez Internet

93%

Kościelny P.

Zeszyty Prawnicze BAS

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2021

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issue 3(71)

251-263

EN

The Act on Upbringing in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism does not include provisions concerning strictly the retail sale of alcohol via Internet. The author considers that, based on provisions concerning stationary shops (required permits, the closed list of types of shops allowed to sell alcohol), the interpretation prohibiting the sale of alcohol online should be considered appropriate. A similar view can be found in the rulings of the Supreme Administrative Court.

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Drug use, smoking, alcohol abuse and assertiveness of medical students from Poland and Belarus

93%

Kułak-Bejda A., Waszkiewicz N., Shpakau A., Bejda G., Dróżdż-Kubicka E.

Progress in Health Sciences

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2018

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vol. 8(2)

62-69

EN

Introduction: Human health is largely determined by factors such as human behavior and style of life. Purpose: To evaluate selected patterns of behavior of medical students, such as smoking, alcohol abuse, drug use, and their assertiveness. Materials and methods: The study included 338 students from Bialystok, Poland, and 339 from Grodno, Belarus. The original questionnaire, Fasterström's Nicotine Addiction Test, Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, Drug Use Problem Test, and Assertiveness Test according to Grębski were all used. Results: In both groups, the level of cigarette dependence was low, with 10% of the students from Poland and 15% from Belarus being habitual cigarette smokers. No significant differences were found in the frequency of alcohol consumption between Polish (57%) and Belarusian (52%) students. Of the respondents, 3.3% from Poland and 1.5% from Belarus met the criteria of alcohol dependence according to the MAST test. There were no statistically significant differences in the frequency of drug use between the Polish (1.5%) and Belarusian (1.8%) students. The average level of assertiveness was 16.2 for Polish students and 15.4 for Belarusian students, which was a significant difference. Conclusions: These results indicate similar percentages of Polish and Belarusian students smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and use drugs. In addition, Polish students were more assertive than Belarusian students.

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The Impact of the Selected Attitudes of Drivers on Traffic Safety

93%

Sendek-Matysiak E.

Logistics and Transport

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2016

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vol. 31

51-58

EN

Drivers’ self image and perception of other drivers comprise the main road traffic factors under analysis in this paper. The impact of these factors on traffic safety was evaluated through a survey among drivers. The outcome of the survey led to interesting conclusions related primarily to the relationship between drivers’ behaviours and their self-assessment and assessment of others. A negative correlation was demonstrated for the latter factor. The more highly the respondents rate themselves, the less highly they rate the skills of other drivers. The study included a number of comparative analyses dealing, among others, with drink driving.

11

Serum beta-glucuronidase in colon cancer patients dependent on alcohol and nicotine: preliminary report

93%

Waszkiewicz N., Zalewska-Szajda B., Repka B., Szulc A., Kępka A., Chojnowska S., Dadan J., Ładny J., Zwierz K., Szajda S.

Progress in Health Sciences

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2012

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vol. 2

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issue 2

64-69

EN

Introduction: Beta-glucuronidase (GLU) is a lysosomal exoglycosidase involved in the catabolism of glycoconjugates. Excessive GLU activity may be a primary factor in the etiology of colon cancer. The stimulation of glycosidases and other degradative enzyme activity has been noted in cancers as well as in alcohol and nicotine addiction. Purpose: To compare the serum GLU activity between alcohol- and nicotine-dependent colon cancer patients and colon cancer patients without a history of alcohol- and nicotine-dependence. Materials and methods: Material was the serum of 22 colon cancer patients, 11 of whom met alcohol and nicotine dependence criteria. The activity of serum GLU (pKat/ml) was determined by the colorimetric method. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) concentration (ng/ml) in the serum was determined by the immunoenzymatic method. Comparisons between groups were made using the Mann-Whitney “U” test. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to measure the association between two variables. Results: The activity of serum GLU was significantly higher in colon cancer patients with a history of alcohol and nicotine dependence, than in the colon cancer patients without a history of drinking and smoking (p=0.003). There was no significant difference in the CEA concentration between colon cancer patients with and without a history of drinking and smoking. Conclusion: Alcohol and nicotine addiction may increase the serum GLU activity in all cancer patients, as already seen in colon cancer patients. This may potentially be important for the degradation of pericancerous matrix, tumor growth, invasion and metastasis

12

Odpowiedzialność lekarza za wykonywanie czynności zawodowych w stanie po użyciu alkoholu, środka odurzającego albo innej podobnie działającej substancji lub środka

81%

Michalak A.

Przegląd Prawniczy Europejskiego Stowarzyszenia Studentów Prawa ELSA Poland

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2014

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issue 2

67-80

EN

The article has the task of directing the doctors’ attention to the issues associated with the responsibility for the petty offence sanctioned in the art. 70 § 2 of Code of Petty Offences, consisting of performing professional activities by them while intoxicated. Due to changes in this aspect after passing the Criminal Procedure Code in 1997, the author of the article is analyzing the provisions sanctioning this act in the present, describes its traits, shows under which circumstances the medical practitioner can be brought to justice pursuant to this provision. The author in his digressions is also concentrating on crucial elements of the civil liability associated with committing this petty offence by the doctors.

13

Alcoholism as a way of dealing with emotions and transformation in relational family therapy

81%

Simonič B., Cvetek R.

Family Forum

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2022

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vol. 12

121-138

EN

Alcoholism, which is a major public health and social problem, can be viewed from several perspectives, as its occurrence is a multifaceted phenomenon in terms of its development (causes), effects, and maintenance. The Relational Family Therapy paradigm looks at alcoholism and its dynamics in relation to dysfunctional affect regulation. Dysfunctional affect regulation and the general inability to manage emotions are often mentioned in relation to the development and maintenance of alcohol addiction. The mechanism of affect regulation generally refers to internal processes that allow an individual to maintain their emotions to a degree that feels still bearable for them. According to these assumptions, alcoholics drink in order to cope with difficult emotions, either because they have more negative emotional states than others do, or because they lack the internal resources to cope with these negative emotions. For them, consuming alcohol is a series of repeated attempts to regulate heavy emotions, which often stem from painful past experiences. The process of Relational Family Therapy, therefore, as treatment of addiction, focuses on identifying and transforming the dysfunctional regulation of affect, which is behind addictive behavior. By means of action research methodology, this paper presents the approach of Relational Family Therapy in working with an alcoholic client, with an emphasis on the aspects of affect regulation. We show how the client’s alcohol use appeared as a dynamic of inappropriate regulation of a painful core affect. In the process of Relational Family Therapy, a more functional regulation of the core affect was established, thereby reducing symptomatic behavior (alcoholism) in the client.

14

“THEY ALL KNOW WHAT I AM”: LITERARY REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN AND ALCOHOL

81%

Klepuszewski W.

Acta Neophilologica

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2018

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vol. XX/2

85-88

EN

Drink literature is something which has been drawing critical attention for a few decades. This is most transparent in the number of studies concerning various attempts to literarise alcohol, in whatever form or genre. What is immediately striking, though, is that most literary works fitting this thematic context are written by male writers, to mention Malcolm Lowry or Charles Jackson, and they usually feature male protagonists. Women seem to be inconspicuous here, both as authors and as literary characters, the latter usually limited to marginal figures who are victims of male drunkenness. This article targets the ‘neglected’ gender in the fictional representations of alcohol by briefly surveying the motif in the literature written on the British Isles and then focusing on two women writers, Jean Rhys and A.L. Kennedy.

15

Approaches to alcohol in textbooks for teaching foreign languages for beginners. An investigation of English, Spanish, Russian and Polish textbooks

81%

Szamryk K.

Heteroglossia - studia kulturoznawczo-filologiczne

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2021

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issue 11

245-260

EN

This study discusses different approaches to alcohol in textbooks for teaching foreign languages (English, Spanish, Russian, Polish) on a beginner level (A1). In a broader context, the article deals with the cultural content and evaluation of foreign language course books. At the outset, the materials for foreign language teaching have been investigated with a frame of content analysis, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative analysis reveals that alcohol occurs in varying levels in the textbooks – from complete absence in some to 118 references in one textbook. Alcohol appears in Polish and Russian textbooks to a greater extent than in English and Spanish. Moreover, the paper suggests that the common feature of the books is a higher tolerance towards beer and wine than to spirits. In the second part of the study, based on the qualitative descriptions, three approaches towards presenting alcohol in the course books are discussed: tabooing, cautionary treatment and an affirmative approach. Additionally, this study discusses that in Slavic course books alcohol might also be introduced because of linguistic reasons (grammatical and phonetic).

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Uwarunkowania liberalizacji stanowisk wobec narkotyków oraz ich zażywania zidentyfikowane w środowisku szkolnym – dane z badań

80%

Motyka M. A.

Studia Edukacyjne

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2019

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issue 55

223-244

EN

Over the past few decades, researchers of drug addiction have drawn attention to the unprecedenteddynamics in the positions on drugs and a growing number of people who admit to the use of suchsubstances for hedonistic and recreational purposes. An intensification of drug addiction led to theidentification of a large number of drug-related problems which occur on individual, social and globallevels. The last decade has abounded in seemingly uncontrollable, numerous events linked mainly to the spread of “legal highs”. These events included: legal trade in those products in Poland, two waves of numerous deaths associated with their use, the extremely unscrupulous distribution of “legal highs”through websites, and particularly the liberalisation of attitudes towards those new designer drugs. The considerable importance in creating positions in favour of drug use should also be attributed to the popularity of marijuana, increasingly gaining a status of a recreational drug. This paper discusses the current reasons why the youth begin to use drugs as identified in the school environment. The research focused on obtaining reliable data allowing to diagnose the phenomenon of drug use by the young people in Podkarpacie Province and to determine factors contributing to drug initiation among this segment of population. In the quantitative research, the empirical data were collected through a specially designed questionnaire from a random sample of young people from 27 secondary schools in Podkarpacie Province (n=2237). Within the sample, 712 students (31%) admitted to using drugs. The most important educational factors for promoting psychoactive substances are low involvement in education and frequent school absences. Drugs are more commonly used by older students. The research material presented in this article can be successfully used by practitioners in the field, including sociologists, educators and psychologists, and by institutions active in social prevention. It can also form the starting point for further explorations of this important social phenomenon.

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Rozmiary i dystrybucja spożycia alkoholu w Polsce. Oceny oparte na badaniu na próbie udziałowej i losowej

80%

Jasiński J.

Archiwum Kryminologii

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1992

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issue XVIII

213-228

EN

The Problem Statement The main goals of the alcohol consumption surveys, repeatedly carried out Poland, are to describe the changes in the drinking subcultures of different segments of the population, to monitor the emergence of new drinking practices and the discontinuance of old ones, and to record the evolution of attitudes toward alcohol. In order to facilitate the analysis of these and related phenomena, similar instruments were used and applied in a consistent manner in several of the consecutive surveys. Any substantial change in the formulation of the questions asked or in the manner they are presented to the respondents (e.g. a mailed questionnaire versus a personal interview), raises a number of problems regarding the interpretation of the results obtained. Should the changes observed be treated as reflecting the transformations of the processes studied, or should they be attributed to alterations in the way the respondents were approached? On the other hand, repeated use of the same questionnaire applied in exactly the same manner does not seem to be an attractive proposition, since new problems and interests emerge and new survey research methods are being developed. In the Polish alcohol consumption surveys an attempt has been made to find a balance between securing continuity and introducing change. However, sometimes changes have to be made irrespectively of the researcher’s wishes. They may stem from resources constraints forcing the researcher to adopt a cheaper or less time consuming method of conducting a survey, or from some other reasons. In the case of the Polish alcohol consumption surveys such an external change occurred recently in relation to the sample design. Nine surveys have been conducted in Poland since 1961. Five of these surveys have utilized quota samples, while in four, random samples were employed. However, the studies based on random samples, for the most part, are not representative of the majority of Polish research on drinking practices. Instead, three of the four surveys based on random samples are unique in that they were devoted to an examination of the following issues: meaning attached by the general public to the notion of abstinence; estimation of the content and influence exercised by the antialcohol propaganda; and the effectiveness of the appeals by the Roman Catholic church to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages during the month of August in the last 3 years. The studies based on quota samples are much more representative of Polish surveys on drinking practices. In these studies, the primary focus has been on the description and nature of drinking occasions. For example, this was the focus in the pioneering surveys by A. Swiecicki carried out in 1961 and 1962, in J. K. Falewicz’s survey of 1968, and in the Polish Alcohol Consumption Surveys of 1980 and 1985. In all of these surveys the same way of measuring alcohol consumption was adopted and their results were analyzed according to the same methodology. The data collection was done by the Center for Public Opinion Survey and Program Studies of the State Committee for Radio and TV in Warsaw for all the surveys. However, in recent years, this Center has been increasingly using random samples of the population in its research, first restricting and more recently abandoning completely the use of quota samples. From now on, the new Polish alcohol consumption surveys will be conducted on random samples only. While the shift to the use of random samples of the population represents a methodological step forward, it raises some important questions. Perhaps most important is whether results from these new surveys will be comparable with results from former surveys? The study reported in this paper is aimed at providing an answer to this question. In the case of a random sample, at least initially, every object in the population has to have an equal probability of being drawn, and at least the first step in the sampling procedure has to be taken randomly. In a quota sample, on the other hand, the usual procedure is that the interviewer has to interview a specified number of subjects with predetermined characteristics (e.g. men; 20‒29 years old; having primary educaiion only; etc.) How the interviewer finds these persons is left to his ingenuity, and even if he does not select them by applying any krown criteria, he is not drawing his part of the sample randomly. If all the interviewers follow exactly the instructions in selecting interviewees, the distribution of the characteristics of the quota sample should be the same as in the general population. It is hoped, but only hoped, that it will secure the representativeness of the sample. To what extent is this hope fulfilled cannot be determined. The Sample In September 1985 the data for the second Polish Alcohol Consumption Survey were collected on a quota sample (QS). Four weeks later, in October 1985, some items from the questionnaire used in that survey were added to a routinely conducted public opinion poll carried out on a random sample (RS). The sizes of the samples were 1808 and 882, respectively. In both cases the field work was done by the Center for Public Opinion Survey. The samples were comparable to one another in terms of the respondents’ occupation, sex, level of education, and proportion of people living in urban and rural areas. However, both samples differed from the general population with respect to age. In the QS, persons aged 60 and older were underrepresented (by about 12%), while those aged 40‒59 were overrepresented (again by about 12%). Within the RS, those aged l6‒19 were underrepresented (by about 6%). The former discrepancy must have originated from the interviewers’ not foliowing closely enough the instructions given to them as to the age of persons they had to interview. The latter discrepancy stemmed from the sampling procedure; the RS was derived from the 1984 election lists, which covered the population of 18 years old and over. One year later, in 1985, these lists included only persons aged 19 and older. The differences in the age structure in the QS, RS, and in the general population are of some significance for estimations of tne coverage rate and for comparability of the samples, and thus will be further discussed later on in the paper. Frequenct and Quantity In the Polish Alcohol Consumption Surveys, as in previous Polish research, the level of consumption has been estimated by means of the last occasion approach. In order to make such estimates a number of assumptions have to be accepted. They are related to the typicality of the occasion described by the respondent in terms of kind of occasion, amount of alcohol consumed, etc. Additionally, some assumptions regarding the frequency of drinking also have to be accepted. These requirements may seem unrealistically far going. However, two points have to be considered. Firstly, the more typical an occasion of drinking is ‒ the more likely, it is to be reported to the interviewer. Secondly, in epidemiological research the interest is on categories or types of respondents and not on a single individual; in groups of respondents, unconventional occasions tend, at least in part, to annul their impact on the means and other measures describing the drinking modalities. The variables used in the Polish Alcohol Consumption Surveys to establish the drinking patterns were: kind of beverage, quantity consumed, and frequency of drinking. There were no differences between the QS and the RS in respect to the frequency of drinking wine purchased in stores as well as home made fruit wine. However, there were some differences in the case of spirit and beer. In the RS, two categories of spirit drinkers could be recognized more distinctly than in the QS; infrequent (i.e. drinking spirits less often than once a month), and very frequent (i.e. several times a week). The former category consisted of 45,5 per cent (QS) and 48,1 per cent (RS), respectively, and the latter of 21,3 per cent (QS) and 30,0 per cent (RS). In the case of beer consumers, there were significantly more infrequent drinkers in the RS than in the QS (48,6 and 34,9 per cent, respectively), and fewer very frequent drinkers (38,5 and 32,5 per cent, respictively). Significantly higher quantities consumed on one occasion were reported in the QS than in the RS, irrespectively of beverage. This would suggest that the interviewers collecting data for the QS tended, possibly without even realizing it, to select prospective respondents from among persons consuming more alcohol than average. The Beverages One of the consequences of the above differences in regard to the frequency of drinking and quantities of alcohol consumed is the overestimation of the concentration of consumption in research based on QSs. The concentration of consumption is traditionally used to refer to the size of proportion of consumers who drink about half of all alcohol consumed. According to an estimate derived from the RS in 1985 in Poland, half of spirits were consumed by about 10 per cent of drinkers (rather than by 7 per cent as indicated by the QS), and of wine purchased ‒ by 8 per cent of drinkers (rather than by 7 per cent); in the case of drinkers of home made wine (5 per cent), and of beer (10 per cent) the estimates of concentration of consumption proved to be the same in the QS and in the RS. The shrinking of the coverage rate was another consequence of the overestimation of the quantities of alcohol consumed of the frequency of drinking of some alcoholic beverages. The comparison of the amount of alcoholic beverages sold during 1985 in the country with the amount accounted for by the surveys, reveals the following picture: QS RS spirits 50,6 per cent 47,8 per cent wine purchased 49,3 per cent 25,8 per cent beer 81,5 per cent 45,2 per cent Total 55,9 per cent 48,1 per cent The substantial differences in the coverage rate are noticed only in relations to wine and beer, e.g. to the beverages of lesser importance considering the Polish drinking patterns. The absence of substantial differences between the RS and the QS in relation to spirits stemmed from the fact that the overestimation of the amount drunk on one occasion was partly compensated for by the underestimation of the size of the category of the very frequent drinkers. As far as the better and wine drinkers were concerned no such compensation was present. The data on the sale of alcoholic beverages indicate that in that in 1985 about 68 per cent of all alcohol purchased in Poland was spirits. Of the total amount of alcohol consumed, the QS indicated that spirits accounted for 62 per cent, while the RS indicated that spirits accounted for 74 per cent. The first estimate was too low, the other too high, each by 6 per cent. As could be expected from the low coverage rate of wine, in the research based on the RS, the place of wine in the structure of beverages consumed was underestimated (9 per cent instead of 15 per cent of all alcohol consumed). The place occupied by beer was estimated correctly by the RS (18 per cent). The modest contribution of beer and wine to the total amount of alcohol consumed should be attributed mainly to the drinking habits prevailing in Poland, but also partly to the unmet demand for beer and for wine, in particular for imported grape wine. The analysis of the data from the QS showed that drinking one kind of alcoholic beverage raised the likelihood of drinking another kind of alcoholic beverage. This was true with regard to every beverage type and all these relationships were statistically significant. The data from the RS corroborated fully the above results. In the case of persons who consumed two kinds of alcoholic beverages, a further question could be asked, viz. do persons who drink greater quantity of one beverage also tend to drink more of the other one. This was the case in respect to all of beverages both in the QS in the RS. Consumption Level In order to estimate the respondents’ level of alcohol consumption all beverages consumed had to be recounted according to their content of alcohol, and added up. The distribution of the respondents according to the level of their consumption revealed some important differences between the estimates derived from the QS and RS. First of all, according to the RS, there were significantly more teetolers in the general population (23 per cent) than according to the QS (16, 1 per cent). This is partly due to the underrepresentation persons aged 60 and older in the QS. Relatively more persons in this age group are non-drinkers than in the lower age brackets. The other reason for this discrepancy in the estimate of the size of the fraction of non-drinkers is the already mentioned tendency of the interviewers to select as prospective respondents drinkers rather than abstainers while collecting data for the QS. The other difference between the RS and QS relates to the proportion of persons drinking substantial amounts of alcohol. On the whole, the RS indicates that it is smaller than the QS does. The extrapolation of the results obtained in the RS on the adult population in the country leads to the following conclusion. In 1985 there were about 2,1 million persons who annually consumed more than 16 liters of pure alcohol in Poland. They were consuming at least one half a litter bottle of vodka in every ten days. Among them nearly 1,5 million consumed at least 24 liters of pure alcohol annually, i.e. at least one bottle of vodka per six days. This group of drinkers represented only 5 per cent of the adult population, but consumed nearly 40 per cent of all alcohol in the country. It was stated before that only about half of the total amount of alcohol consumed was accounted for by the survey based on the RS. The most important reason for the underreporting seems to be, apart from forgetting and concealing, the underrepresentation of heavy drinkers in the sample. Because of this, it is likely that the group of drinkers who consume at least 24 liters of pure alcohol annually is considerably more numerous, and that they probably drink even a greater proportion of all alcohol consumed in the country. Drinkers, Abstainers, Teetolaters Who is a teetotaler seems self-evident and not requiring special consideration only as long, however, as the responds from the general population are not asked what their understanding of the term is. In one of the recent Polish general pop lation surveys this question was addressed and some surprising results were obtained. Although 69 per cent of the respondents considered a teetotaler somebody who has not been drinking any beverages containing alcohol, there were also persons having other opinions in this matter. As many as l5 per cent described a teetotaler as a person who drinks small quantities of alcohol, infrequently, a few times a year only, and further 2 per cent described a teetotaler as a person who does not drink vodka. In order to avoid this issue, in the questionnaire applied both the QS and to the RS, a question was asked whether the respondent had been drinking any alcoholic beverages during the last 12 months preceding the interview. Those who responded in the negative are considered to be teetotalers. Those who have not been drinking a particular beverage are called abstainers, i.e. abstaining refers only to not drinking a particular beverage. This means, that according to this definition abstainers include persons who drink as well as those who do not. Consequently, all teetotalers are abstainers, but among the latter there also drinkers (of some beverages). According to the terminology adopted here only drinkers who consume all kinds of alcoholic beverages listed in the questionnaire can not be called abstainers. The beverage consumed by most Poles is vodka. According to the RS only 28 per cent of the respondents abstained from drinking vodka (12 per cent of men and 42 per cent of women). In this respect the differences between the QS and the RS were not significant. In the case of all other beverages the RS produced significantly higher estimates of the fraction of abstainers than the QS. According to the RS, 65 per cent of respondents do not drink beer (46 per cent of men and 82 per cent of women), 68 per cent do not drink wine purchased (46 per cent of men and 71 per cent of women), and 78 per cent do not drink home made wine (75 per cent of men and 81 per cent of women). The QS and the RS are in concordance on a number of points. Firstly, on the degree of popularity of the various alcoholic beverages. Judging from the size of the fraction of abstainers, spirits is the most widely consumed beverage, followed by beer, wine purchased, and home made wine. Secondly, there are consistently more drinkers among men than among women; only in the case of home made wine is the difference in the size of the fraction of drinkers among men and women not significant. Thirdly, more than half of women drink spirits, i. e. many more than any other alcoholic beverage. It contradicts the belief, widely held in Poland, that vodka is a man’s and wine a woman’s beverage. Fourthly, abstaining from any beverage is equally spread in rural as in urban areas. It illustrates the process of unification of behaviour patterns in Poland, or as it is sometimes formulated – of the urbanization of rural culture, and ruralization of the urban life styles. The size of the fraction of abstainers is, irrespective of the beverage, closely related to the age of the respondents. The older the respondent – starting from the 20–29 age group – the larger the fraction of abstainers. Drinking is also related to the level of education attained. In the case of spirits, wine purchased, and home made wine, the higher the respondents educational attainment the greater the fraction of drinkers. It corresponds to the observation made in a number of countries, according to which the higher the social status – the smaller the fraction of abstainers, the grater the frequency of drinking, and the smaller the amount consumed on one occasion. The above relationship do not apply to beer, which in Poland seems to be a beverage consumed primarily by blue–collar workers. The QS and the RS show the same pattern of results between drinking and living in rural versus urban communities as found for age and level of education of the respondent. Finally, the teetotalers differ markedly from the drinkers. Here again the results of the QS and RS are in harmony. There are significantly more teetotalers among women than among men, and in the age group 40 years old and over (in particular – among those 60 years old and over). There are also more teetotalers among less educated than more educated, and among unqualified blue–collar workers and peasants than among qualified blue–collar workers and white–collar employees. Concluding Remarks There has been a prospective change in the sampling method used in Polish alcohol consumption surveys. This called into question the feasibility of long term trend analysis of the drinking habits prevailing in Poland. In order to dispel the arising doubts, the present inquiry has been carried out comparing the results of the new sampling method (primarily relying on the use of random samples) with the prior method which utilized quota samples. In this project, the same questions relating to drinking practices were put to two groups of respondents. One consisted of a quota sample (QS; n =1808), and the other of a random sample (RS; n = 882) of the adult population. The comparison of results from the two samples leads to the following two observations. Firstly, the numerical values of various parameters characterizing drinking practices, such as the overall consumption level and that of particular beverages, or that of quantities imbibed on one occasion, etc., differ in the QS and the RS. In a number of instances these differences are statistically significant. The results based on the RS suggest a somewhat lower level of alcohol consumption than the ones based on the QS, and shift the coverage rate slightly below 50 per cent. Secondly, the QS and the RS generated very similar pictures of drinking patterns prevailing in Poland, in terms of the kinds of beverages consumed, interrelationship between the various beverages consumed, concentration of consumption, and social traits of people drinking more and drinking less alcohol. The general conclusion emerging from the research project described here can be formulated as follows. The QS provided a fairly true picture of the drinking practices in Poland, however, in order to establish the long term trends in these practices, it is necessary to take into account the corrections stemming from the estimates derived from the RS.

18

Alkohol a poczytalność sprawcy czynu zabronionego - wnioski na podstawie badań aktowych

80%

Golonka A.

Archiwum Kryminologii

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2014

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issue XXXVI

279-292

EN

This study presents the issue of alcohol consumption and its possible effect(s) on an offender’s ability to comprehend the significance of his/her actions or to control his/her behaviour. The legislative provision that allows to justify the full responsibility of the offender being in a state of inebriation in the same unit of a legal text like insanity and significantly restricted sanity (Article 31 of Polish Penal Code) indicates that there is a connection between these states. From a psychopathological standpoint, they are obviously connected by the disrupted functioning of the perpetrator’s mental activities. These disturbances, when the offender is under the influence of alcohol, need not result into his full responsibility and, in some, giving to characterize and statistically present cases, can lead to a reduction or even abolition of the soundness of the perpetrator of the offense. These problems were the stimulus to undertake research work, the results of which are also presented in this paper.

19

Uzależnienie od alkoholu a religijność środowiska społecznego

70%

Szlachcicowa I.

Archiwum Kryminologii

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1996

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issue XXII

43-83

EN

The treatment of alcoholism poses exceptionally numerous problems; what is more, it is but seldom that the traditional treatment of alcohol dependent persons (alocoholics) proves successful. The activity of Alcoholics Anonymous provides sufficient proof that the use of religious faith in the treatment of alcoholics may yield desirable results. Faith is to help alcoholics towards spiritual revival and formition of a new personality enabling them to abstain. The research project aimed at verifying a general hypothesis that religiousness may be one of catalysts of abstention during disaccustoming treatment. We sought to answer the question about the impact of religious faith on the examined alcoholics’ attitude to drinking. Thus religiousness was treated in our statistical analyses as one of the factors that condition the alcohol-related behaviour of persons in the course of disaccustoming treatment. Empirical research was conducted in the years 1984-1985 in Lower Silesia and involved four populations. The study bases on a representative sample of 322 persons treated in outpatient disaccustoming clinics (Ao) and 135 patients of hospital disaccustoming wards (Aн). Aiming to “reproduce” the social environment of alcoholics, we selected control groups (Ko) and (Kн) to match the former two populations. Each member of the control soup matched a member of the population of alcoholics in respect of the following socio-demographic traits: sex, age, marital status, place of residence, level of education, occupation and source of maintenance. Thus the above socio-demographic traits were distributed identically in the populations of alcoholics and their corresponding control groups (A=K). Not at all trivial is the role in this process of environmental factors. Alcohol consumption is not distributed evenly throughout society, the bulk of alcoholic beverages being consumed by a small proportion of Polish people. The high degree of concentration of vodka consumption indicates the existence of sociaf environments which are much more alcoholism-prone than the rest of society. For this reason, in the research project we focused on reconstruction of the characteristics of the social environments that "supply" outpatient clinics and hospitals with alcoholics. The drinking habits in the two examined populations (Aօ and Aн) differ. The differences concern both the frequency of drinking and the amount of alcohol consumed on one occasion. Some of those differences should be stressed here: porsons treated in outpatient clinics tend to drink strong alcoholic beverages more often but exercise some restraint as regards the amount consumed on one occasion. The hospital patients, instead, tend rather to get drunk whenever drinking but drink less often. Due to this difference, the risk of becoming an alcoholic is bigger in the environment that “supplies” patients to hospitals as compared to that of persons treated in outpatient clinics. Members of the population of hospital patients were somewhat younger. Frequent excessive drinking results in a high degree intoxication that speeds up the development of alcoholism in young patients. What has also to be stressed is the fact that the alcoholics’ social backgrounds differ in many other respects as well. Among hospital patients, as opposed to persons treated in outpatient clinics, there is a bigger proportion of men; they are younger (as has been mentioned above) but also polarized to a greater extent as regards age; more of them live in villages and small towns; they have no family of their own (either they have not yet established one or the family they established has already disintegrated); they have no children; they earn a lot but have no flat of their own; they are ernployed as qualified manual workers; some find it difficult to stay on a regular job. Coincidence of the above environmental conditions increases the risk of alcohol dependence. Comparison of the hospital patients’ environment with that of persons treated in outpatient clinics offers many indications that the situation of the latter can be seen as generally more advantageous. They are somewhat older (a larger proportion of them representing the middle age categories); they have families (a lower proportion being divorced), and frequently also children; and most are permanently employed. It was revealed by the project that among hospital patients, there was a larger proportion of persons from extreme sections of distribution of socio-demographic traits while most persons treated in outpatient clinics show normal distributions of those variables. It can thus be concluded that there is among the latter a much bigger proportion of persons in a generally stable life situation. Important here is their undisturbed matrimonial life and permanent employment, as the family and workmates make it possible to control the negative effects of drinking. Just as important is the fact that the compared social environments of alcoholics (Ao and Aн) are unlike each other regarding their degree of involvement in religious practices. Persons treated in outpatient clinics show consistent attitudes towards faith; this is evidenced by a distinct polarization into those who regularly participate in religious practices and persons who never go to the church at all. Among hospital patients, instead, there is a much bigger proportion of persons who are irresolute as to their own faith and take part in religious life but occasionally. Alcoholism may lead to a lowered degree of religiousness and, as a result, to a considerable decrease in, and sometimes total desistance from participation in many religious practices. The project sought to answer questions such as e.g.: What is the degree of religiousness of examined alcoholics? Is their religiousness different from that of non-alcoholic population? If so, to what extent? General religious declarations of persons treated in outpatient clinics are similar as regards their attitudes towards faith. Instead, such persons more often declare lack of religion or religious indifference which may indicate a growing polarization of attitudes (religiousness or lack of religion). Alcoholism contributes to neglect in religious duties. Persons treated in outpatient clinics attend the Sunday service less regularly than other men from a similar social enviroment. Also, fewer alcoholics go to church on Easter: a smaller proportion (as compared to that found in a similar environment) observe the Easter duty and receive the Holy Communion. The high degree of religious declarations typical of the soclal background of hospital patients is somewhat lower in the case of alcoholics themselves. The drop is distinct, instead, as regards participation in religious practices of hospital-treated alcoholics. They attend the Sunday service but occasionally, and more often fail to go to church on Easter. On the other hand, their motivation seems stronger regarding the Easter duty. The period of hospital treatment and advanced alcoholism disturb the rhythm of periodical religious practices. We analyzed the correlation between religiousness (participation in the basic religious practices) and drinking habits. Religiousness was found to stimulate a limitation of both the frequency of drinking and the amount consumed on one occasion in men from the group of persons treated in outpatient clinics (Kօ, Ao). Regular participation in religious life through performance of the obligatory practices coincides with sobriety in everyday life. Instead, religious irresolution consisting in neglect of the Sunday and Easter practices is accompanied by a radical deterioration in the sphere of drinking habits. What seems particularly important from the viewpoint of the problems under analysis is the fact that participation in religious practices (on Sundays and Easter alike) reduces the frequency of drinking in persons treated in outpatient clinics. A drop in the amount of vodka consumed by those persons on one occasion is related mainly to the Easter practice. On the other hand, the study failed to confirm good effects of religiousness on the drinking habits in the environment of hospital patients (Kн, Aн). Hospital patients are no doubt alienated from their social background to a greater extent than persons treated in outpatient clinics. This is evidenced by their late start of the disaccustoming treatment. Over 60% of hospital patients live in small and medium-sized towns as well as villages while persons treated in outpatient clinics are chiefly inhabitants of big cities (58%) and medium-sized towns (41%). This indicates weakness of disaccustoming clinics in small localities, due to their small number, understaffing, and the locals’ unawareness of alcoholism being a disease.

20

Spożycie napojów alkoholowych w Polsce w 1985 r.

70%

Jasiński J.

Archiwum Kryminologii

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1991

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issue XVII

199-285

EN

The Surveys Since 1961, nine alcohol consumption surveys were carried out on the national level in Poland. The interests of their authors, the contents of questionnaires, and the ways of conducting the surveys varied, but most of them exhibited some common features. First of all, the respondents were met personally by the interviewers who filled up the questionnaires during the interview. Most of the surveys were based on quota samples of adult population, but in some also youngsters aged over 15 or 16 were included into the sample. The last occasion approach prevailed in the surveys; in one of them only, the respondents were asked to describe their last three drinking occasions. In some surveys, the respondents were also requested to estimate the frequency of their drinking of spirits during the last three months. In the present paper, some findings of the fifth and seventh surveys are analysed. The two surveys were carried out in 1980 and 1985, respectively. The estimate of frequency of drinking spirits derived from answers to the questions related to drinking during the last three months and to those about the last drinking occasion proved to differ markedly in exceptional cases only. However, as expected, the last occasion approach produced somewhat higher estimates of consumption level than that based on the respondent’s appraisal of the frequency of his or her own drinking during the last three months. The coverage rate was similar in both surveys: 47 per cent in 1980 and 56 per cent in 1985, and its level is in accordance with the findings obtained in surveys carried out in other countries. The Questions The questionnaires of both surveys included several questions related to positive and negative experiences the respondents had had as a result of their drinking. The proper part of the questionnaire used in the 1980 survey was of an experimental character. Its main aim was to collect data on the issue neglected in the Polish literature, i.e. on rewards resulting from drinking alcohol. In the literature in question, much attention had been paid to the detrimental consequences of drinking as if they were the only ones. The assumption that drinking has also some positive value for alcohol consumers seemed plausible: why would they otherwise drink at all? The questions asked were not intended to reveal what really happened to the persons who consume alcohol, but rather to get some insight in to the way they perceived occurrences which they rightly or mistakenly attribute to their drinking of alcohol. What seemed interesting were also the spheres of life in which alcohol played a positive as opposed to a negative role. As that part of the questionnaire was of an exploratory nature only, the respondents were asked about events in which alcohol helped them somehow or caused them getting into trouble, whenever that occurred. In the questionnaire of the 1985 survey, more attention was paid to the wording of those questions. Firstly, the respondents were asked about occurrences which had happened during the last twelve months preceding the interview. That was the time limit introduced in order to separate drinkers from non-drinkers, and in that case also to distinguish the “current” from the past events. Secondly, in the case of a good as well as bad experience, the types of occurrences in question were both of a trivial character and of such a nature that they could be related to a single drinking occasion. Thirdly, in reration to some spheres of life questions, about both positive and negative consequences were asked. Some of the questions included in the 1980 and 1985 questionnaires were formulated the way adopted in the Scandinavian Drinking Survey of 1979 which was carried out in Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Similar questions were also asked in Finnish surveys conducted in 1968, 1976, and 1984. The Polish, the Scandinavian, and the Finnish surveys, were carried out at different times, in different manners, and on differently drawn sampres. Therefore, it would be impossible to compare, their findings directly. However, it seems interesting to point to some most striking discrepancies between them as a point of departure for theorizing on possible differences in the role played by alcohol in social life in Poland and in the Scandinavian countries. The Findings The main findings of the inquiry qan be summarized as follows: As could be expected, asking about events which might have occurred at any time in the respondents’ life has led to a higher proportion of positive answers as compared to asking about events that occurred during the last twelve months. In the Polish surveys, this could be noticed in the case of sorting out probrems related to people close to the respondent (49.7 and 21.7 per cent, respectivery), of taking a more, optimistic view of life (40.8 and 18.7 per cent, respectively) and in several other questions, while in the case of the Finnish surveys, in relation to being picked up by the police for being drunk (8.5–10.9 and 3.5 per cent, respectively). This observation is fairly obvious and has been mentioned here only to support confidence in the findings obtained. The questions included in the questionnaire of the 1980 Polish survey were formulated in a manner that was not too well suited for comparisons between the positive and negative experiences stemming from drinking. However, they provided some clues for supposing that good experiences occur more often than bad ones. The evidence provided by the answers in the l985 survey clearly supports this assumption. First of all, the prevalence of an experience is related to its type. The most common ones were: being more resolute in company, and spending more money than one otherwise would (it happened to 36.2 and 34.9 per cent of drinkers, respectively, during the last twelve months). It shows that positive as well as negative experiences related to drinking may be quite common. Most revealing are the answers to questions that pertain to similar types of events. There were four times more drinkers who felt that because of alcohol they were more resolute in company than those who acted as spoil-sports in company because of their drinking (36.2 as opposed to 8.3 per cent, respectively); three times more respondents who sorter out problems connected with their job with the help of alcohol than those who had some trouble at work because of their drinking (23.8 as opposed to 6.7 per cent, respectively); distinctly more sorted out problems related to people close to them than spoiled their relations with such persons (21.7 as opposed to 14.8 per cent, respectively); and finally, many more respondents took an optimistic rather than a pessimistic view of life because of drinking (18.7 as opposed to 10.4 per cent, respectively), It shows definitely that positive consequences of their own drinking are noticed by far more persons than the negative ones. The above findings concern the distribution of answers obtained from all drinkers in the sample. However, they do not preclude the contents of individual respondents’ answers. Are there two separate groups of drinkers: one consisting of those who have positive experiences with drinking, and another one, distinctly smaller, made up of those who have negative experiences related to the use of alcohol? Or is there one group only: the same people have good and bad experiences with drinking, the good ones prevailing in most cases? None of these alternatives appeared to be fully substantiated by the findings of the 1985 survey. First of all, more than two in five of the drinkers reported none of the good experiences listed, and more than one in two – none of the bad experiences. Thus there is a third (or a second) group of respondents drinking alcohol, viz. those who have neither positive nor negative experiences with it. Hence the possible concurrence of good and bad experiences related to drinking may be found in about a half of the drinkers only. All types of good and bad experiences were positively correlated with all types of bad experience listed in the questionnaire (X2 = from 87.8 to 274.3; df = 4; p < T = from 0.17 to 0.32). This points clearly to the second of the above alternatives, viz. to the view that those were predominantly the same persons who admitted having had both good and bad experiences related to drinking. Formulating this observation differently, one might say that having some good experience with drinking enhances the likelihood of having also bad experience with alcohol, and vice versa. In order to proceed further in this analysis, two indices were calculated. Both of them are related to variety and not quantity of experiences, as the questionnaire of the 1985 survey did not contain questions about how often the separate types of experiences listed had occurred. To form the index of good experiences, the number of “yes” answers was calculated, and accordingly the respondents received scores from 0 (no “yes” answers) to 7 (“yes” answers to all types of experiences quoted). The index of bad experiences was formed similarly. The mean score was 1.65 for positive experiences and 1.12 for the negative ones which shows once more that the incidence of the first kind of experiences prevailed over the other one. As it has already been mentioned, quite a number of respondents gave no “yes” answers at all. On the other end of the scale, there were relatively few persons who gave five or more “yes” answers; in the case of good experiences, there were 11 per cent of such persons, and in the case of bad ones – 5 per cent only. The close relationship between having good as well as bad exaperiences is demonstrated by the mean scores of index of good experiences related to drinking calculated for every level of the index of bad experiences, and vice versa. The picture shown by those scores is quite clear: the higher the number of positive types of experiences related to the use of alcohol, the higher also the number of negative experiences stemming from drinking. The same is also true for negative experiences: the greater their number, the more numerous also positive experiences. In conclusion it can simply be said that the drinkers who believe that alcohol drinking is rewarding are generally also aware of some unpleasant consequences which follow its use, and vice versa. A closer look at the scores of both indices revealed that on every level of the index of positive experiences, the number of those experiences exceeded markedly that of the negative ones (the only exception found is in the case of no positive experience). A partly similar picture emerges while looking at the consecutive levels of negative experiences: in the lower part of the scale, mean numbers of positive experiences surpass those of negative ones; only in the case of those respendents who reported four or more types of negative experiences, the numbers of positive experiences were smaller. Finally, the question arises how could this concurrence of good and bad experiences be explained. Or, to take a different approach, what, if anything, distinguishes the respondents who admit having many types of positive and negative experiences from those who do not happen to have them at all or who have a few only. The answer is again surprisingly simple. What seems to determine the number of experiences related to drinking is the level of alcohol consumption. In the case of the Polish drinking habits, this means practically the level of consumption of spirits. The greater the number of types of negative or positive experiences, the higher the consumption level of alcohol (spirits). In persons who reported no good or bad experiences related to drinking, mean alcohol consumption was less than a half of the average. With a rise in the number of types of positive and negative experiences stemming from drinking, the amount of alcohol consumed is also rising steeply to a level more than twice as high as the average for all drinkers. It has also to be stressed that the conusumption level associated with the same number of types of negative experiences related to drinking is higher than in the case of positive ones. Looking at this relationship at the background of the level of consumption, it can be stated that e.g. those who drunk ten to eleven litres of spirits yearly have had one type of bad and two types of good experiences related to the use of alcohol; those who drunk seventeen to twenty litres had two to three types of bad and three–four types of good experiences; and those who drunk about twenty-five litres of spirits yearly had four types of bad and five types of good experiences stemming from alcohol. The predominance of positive experiences is present all the time; however, it tends to get smaller with the increase in consumption level. The description of respondents who tended to have more good and bad experiences related to drinking corresponds strictly to that of those who are drinking more than others. Over-represented are among them: men, middle-aged, having primary education only or unfinnished secondary school, having, blue-collar jobs, describing themselves as nonbelievers or non-practising believers, having disputes and arguments with their families, with neighbours, friends, colleagues and superiors at work, having often the feeling of not enjoying the esteem they deserve. Conclusions For most Poles who drink alcohol, drinking does not seem to be associated with any particular experiences of a positive or negative value. They do not drink much, do it occasionally, probably mostly for social reasons. For those who drink more than the average and, in particular, for those who drink heavily, alcohol consumption tends to be associated with some good or bad experiences which they relate to their use of alcohol. The more they drink, the more experiences of both kinds they have. However, experiences of a rewarding nature prevail over consequences that are annoying or unpleasant. While looking at similar Scandinavian surveys, some striking differences in the incidence of types of occurrences related to drinking can be noticed. In Poland, alcohol seems to serve much more often than in the Scandinavian countries as a means of sorting out problems the drinking person has with people close to him, and in particular, in sorting out his or her problems at work. On the other hand, as far as the use of alcohol for acquiring some psychological effects is concerned (such as improving the mood, better expressing one’s feelings, or saying something one regrets afterwards), the Poles do not seem to differ much from the Scandinavians, particularly from those who are ress successful in this sphere. The Poles seem to have also more health problems related to drinking, even in comparison to those Scandinavians who drink mostly spirits, like the Icelanders.

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