Abstract
A growing body of research demonstrates that members of specific ethnic groups often have distinctly different patterns of alcohol use. Many of these studies have focused on and/or contrasted problem-drinking Irish with Jews, who have a low incidence of alcoholism (Ablon & Cunningham, 1981; Bales, 1962; Knupfer & Room, 1967; Strivers, 1976; Synder, 1958). Other ethnic groups studied include the Italians (Blane, 1977; Lolli, Serianni, Golder, & Luzzato-Fegiz, 1958; Simboli, 1976), Hispanics (Gordon, 1978; Paine, 1977; Trotter, 1982), Asians (Sue, Zana, & Ito, 1979; Wilson, McClearn & Johnson, 1978), and Armenians (Freund, 1980). However, with the exception of a brief mention in Thomas and Znaniecki’s classic study of the Polish peasant (1918–1920) and a few scattered articles, largely concerned with other issues, (Taft, 1936; Zand, 1961; Finestone, 1967) there has been little research on Polish-American drinking. Even monographs on various Polish-American communities in Chicago, Boston, Buffalo, and Detroit (Lopata, 1976; Morawska, 1977; Obidinski, 1968; Wrobel, 1979) contain at most an occasional reference to drinking or the role of alcohol in the Polish community.
The research was conducted in 1979–80 while the author was a postdoctoral fellow in the NIAAA Program Social Science Research Training on Alcohol Grant No. T32 AA 07131, Dwight B. Heath, Program Director, Brown University, Providence, RI.
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Freund, P.J. (1985). Polish-American Drinking. In: Bennett, L.A., Ames, G.M. (eds) The American Experience with Alcohol. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0530-7_6
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