Non-Maori drink alcohol more often than Maori, but Maori drink greater amounts during typical drinking sessions, a study commissioned by the Alcohol Advisory Council (Alac) shows.
The two different patterns combine so that average alcohol consumption per day is similar among both groups, the study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today says.
Five researchers in Auckland and Wellington gathered data from five New Zealand surveys done since 1988 and re-analysed them by sex and age groups.
Of the 44,830 people surveyed, 15.4 per cent were Maori.
"In all age groups and in men and women, non-Maori were more likely to be drinkers," the study says.
Non-Maori reported drinking on more than 50 per cent of days of the year.
Frequency increased with age, ranging from low among non-Maori men aged 18, to high among non-Maori women aged 50-74.
Among men aged 50-74, non-Maori were about 90 per cent more likely to be drinkers than Maori.
However, the volume of alcohol consumed by non-Maori on a usual drinking occasion was consistently around 40 per cent less than for Maori.
"Maori therefore, have markedly different drinking patterns of alcohol consumption than non-Maori," the study says.
It had been identified in the past as a "hazardous drinking pattern".
"This must be considered when determining the relationship between Maori alcohol consumption and health risk," the study says.
"Such drinking patterns... are not unique to Maori and are similar among other indigenous populations that have experienced colonisation."
Discussion of alcohol consumption by ethnicity had been a sensitive topic for some years.
Alcohol became readily available to Maori in the early 19th century and while at first they showed a "strong aversion" to alcohol, they were legally permitted to drink in public bars with the passing of the Licensing Amendment Act 1948.
- NZPA
Drinking patterns differ for Maori and non-Maori: study
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.