Behaviors and Culture of Drinking Among Korean People

Background: the objective of this study was to identify behaviors and culture of drinking alcohol in korean people. methods: among a panel of subjected enrolled in existing domestic survey companies, adults aged 19 to 59 yr old who replied that their drinking frequency was more than once a month for the past one year were selected in 2017. sample size and methods used for analysis were determined by considering demographically proportioned stratified sampling and monthly alcohol drinking rate. a total of 1,185 subjects (731 males and 454 females) responded to ques-tionnaires. results: most drinking behaviors were in the domain of leisure time. drinking for two or more times a month and binge drinking were mainly concentrated in five occasions types: going out with friends (44.2%), going out with col-league (34.2%), drinking at home or friend’s home with friends (32.9%), drinking at home alone (29.3%), and drinking with meals at home (27.5%). regarding the ratio of experiences in drinking for subjects according to occupations, ‘di-rectors/managers’ who participated in receptions of guests, either hosted by or invited thereto, had the highest per-centage (64.2%), followed by ‘individual proprietors’ (56.4%). differences between each type of occupation were found to be statistically significant (p< 0.001). conclusion: the drinking culture in korea was characterized by more social drinking than by drinking alone at home. the drinking behavior was often one-shot at a time rather than drinking a little sip. the practices of collective drinking should be improved to avoid secondary harmful effects.