Alcohol Use and the American Indian—some Socio-Cultural Lessons about the Nature of Alcoholism*

摘要

Recent research findings on alcoholism involving a number of American Indian tribes are reviewed and compared with those obtained in a study of Sioux drinking in the 1960's. Many of the behavioural symptoms of alcoholism characteristic of Anglo-Saxon populations are absent among Indian groups. Such symptoms are less reliable as indicators of alcoholism because they are less culture free. It is concluded that the behavioural symptoms of alcoholism must be evaluated in the cultural context in which they occur.