Measurement of Drinking, Alcoholism and Loss‐of‐control Over Alcohol

Four patterns of alcohol consumption, differing by degree, were made available for study by arbitrarily sub‐dividing groups of alcoholics and social drinkers into subjects who spread consumption over a four‐hour, free‐choice drinking session (completors) and those who terminated consumption a minimum of 35 minutes prior to its end (non‐completors). In defining loss‐of‐control drinking as progressive increases in sip size accompanied by decrease in number of sips, per hour, it was found that both groups of alcoholics exhibited loss‐of‐control, particularly during the third hour. Of the social drinkers only the non‐completors exhibited any similar style of drinking, and this only in the fourth hour despite consuming significantly less total alcohol than the other groups. Demographic variables were of no predictive value as to who would complete or not complete the session.