Drinking Patterns and Attitudes of Rooming-House Chinese in San Francisco

Abstract

Among 41 Chinese men (38 of them born in China), aged 52 to 85 (median 70), living alone and with low annual incomes, 26 were abstainers; 2 were light-infrequent drinkers; 6 light-frequent; 2 moderate-infrequent; 2 moderate-frequent; and 3 heavy drinkers (1 or 2 drinks daily or 3 or 4 drinks on an occasion at least once a month). Drunkenness was proscribed by 83% and 24% disapproved of drinking. Bars in San Francisco's Chinatown cater mainly to Whites and to younger middle-class Chinese. The recreational choices of the respondents included, first, gambling, then spending time in a park and going to the movies. In surveys of the general population of San Francisco in 1962 and 1964, 11 of 36 Chinese respondents were abstainers, compared with 74 of 430 Whites; 7 and 38 were light-infrequent drinkers; 5 and 62 light-frequent; 6 and 43 moderate-infrequent; 3 and 79 moderate-frequent; and 4 and 134 heavy drinkers. The low rate of alcoholism among Chinese in America is attributed to a nondrinking rather than a moderate-drinking pattern. Recreational gambling may serve as a functional equivalent of drinking among the Chinese.