White women bending the elbow more.

• Position: Life in America - Alcohol consumption

More people are drinking now than 20 years ago, according to a University of Texas Southwestem Medical Center, Dallas, analysis of national alcohol consumption patterns. The data suggests that a variety of factors--including social, economic, and ethnic influences and pressures--is involved in the increase.

"The reasons for the uptick vary and may involve complex sociodemographic changes in population, but the findings are clear: more people are consuming alcohol at present than in the early 1990s," states Paul Caetano, dean of the School of Health Professions. "Changes in the population due to aging, the influx of immigrant groups, and a decline in mean income level because of economic recession can all impact trends in drinking and problems associated with drinking."

While more Caucasians, Hispanics, and African-Americans report drinking, only Caucasian women consume more drinks per person. The number of drinks that African-Americans and Hispanics consume has leveled out over the 10-year period. In addition to an increase in the number of male and female drinkers within all three ethnic groups, the researchers found that...