title: The relationship between alcohol consumption and perceived drunkenness: a multilevel cross-national comparison in samples of adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Alcohol consumption seems to be the best predictor of drunkenness and evidence suggests that individual and country factors influence the perception of drunkenness. This study examines if the relationship between volume of alcohol consumption and perceived drunkenness varies across European countries in samples of adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data came from the 2007 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD). The analytical sample consisted of n = 60,114 (93%) 15-16-year-old students in 24 countries reporting alcohol consumption on the last drinking occasion. At the individual level, perceived drunkenness on the last drinking occasion was measured with a 10-point scale, alcohol consumption on the last drinking occasion with a beverage-specific quantity index. Six individual characteristics were assessed and used as control variables. At the country level, a total of five country-level variables were included in the study. Data were analysed using multilevel regression models simultaneously considering both individual level (Level 1) and group (country) level (Level 2) variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The relationship between alcohol consumption and perceived drunkenness varied across countries. This variation could partly be explained by drinking patterns and geographical region.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The perception of the effects of alcohol in terms of drunkenness seems to vary across countries. Future studies should develop sound indicators of cultural differences accounting for this variation.
authors.affiliation: IFT Institut für Therapieforschung, Parzivalstrasse 25, D-80804 München, Germany. mueller@ift.de
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Piontek
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pabst
authors.forename: Ludwig
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kraus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003625:Data Collection; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004327:Drinking Behavior; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students