in the analyses. However, usual measures of heavy episodic drinking (e.g., 5 or more drinks per occasion) may not be suited for cross-cultural research when in some countries nearly all male drinkers engage in heavy episodic drinking, while in other countries only a small proportion of women ever drink this amount [21]. Alternative measures of heavy episodic drinking that are sensitive to cultural differences in drinking pattern are needed to more fully distinguish between usual quantity and occasional heavy episodic drinking in a way that is meaningful across genders and cultures. Finally, the findings regarding country-level variables need to be interpreted with caution because of the relatively small number of countries in the analyses.
