Canadian women underreport boozing by 53%

By Michael Mui, 24 Hours Vancouver

A study from the University of Victoria says Canadian woman underreport their frequency of drinking by 53% — and men aren’t far behind.

Dr. Tim Stockwell of the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. said his study examined the responses of more than 43,000 people who answered the Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey — discovering many were mistaken about how much alcohol they actually consume.

While women underreported their drinking frequency by 53%, men underreported by 43%, the study found.

“That survey, they asked drinking frequency over the past five months. You can say never, you can say less that once a month, less than once a week, up to every day,” he said.

“They were also asked whether they drank the day before … if 100 people said they drank less than once a month, if you drank once a week, then every seventh person on average should say they had drank before the interview.”

But that wasn’t the case. Far more people said they had a drink the day before the interviews than should be possible. For those who claimed they drank less than once a month, the actual frequency of drinking, Stockwell said, was about three times higher.

Retrieved from: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2016/04/18/canadian-women-underreport-boozing-by-53