After just 4 months of operation my blogs have hit the 20,000 visitor mark. To me this is astounding. Thank you.

The statistics for September are;

Visitors - 20,002

Pages viewed - 49,968

Posts - 95

Comments - 90. Well, we can push this up next month.

My blogs are;

www.BriefTSF.com

www.Recoveryissexy.com

www.TwelveStepFacilitation.com

www.AlcoholSelfHelpNews.wordpress.com

Blogging For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) by Brad Hill Read more about this title…

Alcohol Consumption, Alcoholics Anonymous Membership, and Homicide Mortality Rates in Ontario 1968 to 1991.

BACKGROUND: Research has shown a strong link between alcohol use and a variety of problems, including violence.

Parker and colleagues have presented a selective disinhibition theory for the link between alcohol use and homicide (and other violence) that posits a causal relationship that is also influenced by other situational and contextual factors.

This model is particularly well suited for aggregate-level investigations.

In this study, we examine the impact of alcohol factors, including consumption measures and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) membership rates, on homicide mortality rates in Ontario, and test predictions derived from the selective disinhibition model.

METHODS: Time series analyses with ARIMA modeling were applied to total, male, and female homicide rates in Ontario between 1968 and 1991.

The analyses performed included total alcohol consumption, spirits consumption, beer consumption, and wine consumption.

Missing AA membership data were interpolated with cubic splines.

RESULTS: For the total population and males, homicide rates were significantly and positively related to total alcohol consumption and to the consumption of beer and spirits.

They were also negatively related to AA membership rates in the analyses involving spirits and wine and positively related to unemployment rates in the analyses involving beer, wine, and total alcohol.

Among females, none of the measures were significant predictors of homicide mortality rates.

CONCLUSIONS: These data provide important support for the selective disinhibition model and confirm important relationships between per capita consumption measures and homicide mortality rates, especially among males, seen in other studies.

Additionally, the results for AA membership rates are consistent with the hypothesis that AA membership and treatment for misuse of alcohol can exert beneficial effects observable at the population level.

Mann RE, Zalcman RF, Smart RG, Rush BR, Suurvali H. Alcohol consumption, alcoholics anonymous membership, and homicide mortality rates in Ontario 1968 to 1991. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2006 Oct;30(10):1743-51.

The 8-year course of alcohol abuse: Gender differences in social context and coping.
Women and men with alcohol use disorders were compared in terms of social context and coping methods and in terms of changes in these indexes associated with participation in professional treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

The participants, initially untreated problem drinkers (230 women and 236 men), were followed for 8 years.

Women and men did not differ in the type of help received, but women had longer professional treatment.

At baseline, women had more stressors and fewer resources from family and relied more on avoidance coping and drinking to cope.

During the next 8 years, women, more than men, increased approach coping and reduced their use of avoidance coping and drinking to cope.

With control for baseline status, women had better social resource, coping, and drinking outcomes than men did at 1 year and 8 years.

Among men, but not among women, longer duration of professional treatment during year 1 was associated with improved approach coping.

A longer duration of AA attendance during year 1 and the full 8 years was associated with more resources from friends, more use of approach coping, and less drinking to cope.

In turn, more friends resources and approach coping and less drinking to cope were associated with better drinking outcomes.

Decreases in avoidance coping and drinking to cope were more strongly associated with better drinking outcomes among men than among women.

Thus it may be important to target men for formal services or self-help to increase their use of approach coping in efforts to maintain abstinence. Women’s strategies for improving their social context need further investigation for adaptation to male problem drinkers.

Timko, Christine; Finney, John W.; and Moos, Rudolf H.  The 8-year course of alcohol abuse: Gender differences in social context and coping.  Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research 29(4):612-621, April 2005.