Levels of use among drinkers also continues to decline in Canada. The portrait of the Canadian who is most likely to drink and drink heavily is that of a young adult male who is not married, relatively well-off, speaks English or French at home and rarely or never attends religious services. Residents of the Prairies and British Columbia tend to drink less often and in lower quantities than other Canadians, but community size accounts for little variation in rates of drinking. In a multivariate analysis of the combined impact of socio-demographic factors on drinking and drinking levels, it is found that the frequency of religious attendance and age are the strongest predictors of current drinking. Language spoken at home, gender, income adequacy, education and employment status are also significantly related to drinking status.
Gender is the strongest predictor of volume of alcohol consumption.
The higher volume of consumption by males is not accounted for by other variables in the analysis. The second strongest predictor of volume of consumption is religious attendance, followed by age, marital status and employment status. In a multivariate analysis, age, marital status, gender, religious attendance and employment status are the strongest predictors of the likelihood that the individual has a problem with his or her drinking. The number of heavy drinking occasions is a stronger predictor of drinking problems than overall level of consumption. The likelihood of experiencing a drinking problem is greater for a moderate level drinker who occasionally drinks immoderately than for a high volume drinker who rarely or never consumes immoderately.