The Importance of Measuring Alcohol Consumption To date, alcohol studies have attended far more to issues of alco hol dependence and the harmful consequences of drinking than to the level of alcohol consumption itself. This is, perhaps, not surprising since dependence on alcohol is believed to constitute a meaningful and distinct medical syndrome, regardless of the level of alcohol consumption associated with it (Edwards and Gross, 1976). Also, of society is generally more concerned with the adverse consequences drinking (e. g., traffic fatalities, homelessness, health care and legal...