National context and patterns of alcohol use: the devil is in the data.
This commentary addresses several data-related challenges confronting the research described by  Allamani et al. (2011)  The topics briefly reviewed here include considerations of the optimal unit of analysis, sources of measurement error in social indicators, the heterogeneity and homogeneity of measurements within and across nations, and the data structures being employed.
Survey Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA. timj@uic.edu
Timothy P
TP
Johnson
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000639:trends*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057766:Policy