Regularity in alcohol distributions: implications for the collective nature of drinking behaviour

Comparing distributions of alcohol consumption: empirical probability plots

Parametric approaches to the problem of the distribution of alcohol consumption have not been very successful. In this article, it is shown that regulatory in distribution can be studied without making assumptions about a distribution model underlying the data. For this purpose, a method is used with which distributions are compared graphically in so-called probability plots. It appears that, up to a proper linear transformation on a logarithmic scale, a surprisingly large regularity over time can be observed between distributions taken from Dutch samples in 1970, 1981 and 1985. Equally, distributions from male and female sub-samples do not appear to differ up to a linear shift. The finding of a relative equality in distributional form is in accordance with the Ledermann model. However, the difference with the Ledermann's model is that no assumptions about the exact shape of the distributions are being made.