Britain’s heavy drinkers can be categorised into nine personality types, according to the Department of Health.
Government researchers have analysed the social and psychological characteristics of people who regularly drink twice the recommended guidelines of alcohol.
They found that the personality types ranged from depressives who drink at home alone, to macho exhibitionists who spend almost every evening in the pub.
The information will be used to devise public health campaigns to target those who are putting themselves at risk of alcohol-related illnesses that cost the NHS in England about £2.7billion a year.
A DoH spokesman said: “This will be a tough one to crack. Research found many positive associations with alcohol among the general public - even more so among those drinking at higher-risk levels. For these people alcohol is embedded in their identity and lifestyle: so much so that challenging this behaviour results in high levels of defensiveness, rejection or even outright denial.”
The nine personality types of heavy drinkers, to be unveiled by the DoH on Wednesday, are:
- “De-stress drinkers” use alcohol to regain control of life and calm down. They include middle-class women and men.
- “Conformist drinkers” are driven by the need to belong and seek a structure to their lives. They are typically men aged 45 to 59 in clerical or manual jobs.
- “Boredom drinkers” consume alcohol to pass the time, seeking stimulation to relieve the monotony of life. Alcohol helps them to feel comforted and secure.
- “Depressed drinkers” may be of any age, gender or socioeconomic group. They crave comfort, safety and security.
-“Re-bonding drinkers” are driven by a need to keep in touch with people who are close to them.
- “Community drinkers” are motivated by the need to belong. They are usually lower middle class men and women who drink in large friendship groups.
- “Hedonistic drinkers” crave stimulation and want to abandon control. They are often divorced people with grown-up children, who want to stand out from the crowd.
- “Macho drinkers” spend most of their spare time in pubs. They are mostly men of all ages who want to stand out from the crowd.
- “Border dependents” regard the pub as a home from home. They visit it during the day and the evening, on weekdays and at weekends, drinking fast and often.
It is hoped the research will help the government to reach out to people who consume at least twice the guidelines of 35 alcohol units a week for women and 50 for men.
Dawn Primarolo, the public health minister, said: “The pilot will help up to 4,000 drinkers cut down in the first year alone.”
The DoH will also launch a trial information campaign in north-west England to persuade problem drinkers to cut down.
It includes self-help packs, available online and in printed form, which tell drinkers how to calculate the medical risks associated with different levels of alcohol intake.
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