Pia Mäkelä

Official title: Research Professor, PhD, Adjunct Professor
Tel. +358 29 524 7159
E-mail: firstname.lastname@thl.fi

Expertise

• Alcohol use, drinking habits, drinking culture
• Consequences of alcohol use in Finland
• Alcohol policy

Primary duties

• Drinking Habit Survey
• Monitoring and studying of alcohol use, its consequences and alcohol policy in Finland 
• Communication related to alcohol-related research

Education

• 2005, Adjunct Professor of Sociology, University of Helsinki
• 1999, D.Soc.Sc., Sociology/Demography, University of Helsinki
• 1994, M.Soc.Sc., Sociology/Demography, University of Helsinki

Professional background

• Research Professor, THL 2017–
• Senior Researcher, THL (previously STAKES), 1999–2017
• Head of Unit, THL, 2012–2016
• Ph.D. Student 1994–1999, University of Helsinki

Professional memberships

• Senior Editor of the journal Addiction
• Member of the Board of the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies
• Co-ordinating committee of the Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol

Publications and research

• Pia Mäkelä, Janne Härkönen, Tomi Lintonen (in press) Drinking at home: what does it entail for younger and older Finns? Drug and Alcohol Review.
• Pia Mäkelä, Pekka Kumpulainen, Janne Härkönen, Tomi Lintonen (2022) Domestication of drinking: a survey study of changes in types of drinking occasions during periods of increasing and decreasing alcohol consumption in the 2000s in FinlandLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. Addiction 117:2625–34.
• Katainen Anu, Härkönen Janne & Mäkelä Pia (2021) Social Consequences of Abstaining from Alcohol: A Population-Based Study on Experienced Pressure to Drink Among Finnish Non-DrinkersLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. Substance Use and Misuse, in press.
• Mäkelä P, Rossow I, Moan IS, Bye E, Kilian C, Raitasalo K, Allebeck P (2021) Measuring changes in alcohol use in Finland and Norway during the COVID-19 pandemic: comparison between data sourcesLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, e1892.
• Mäkelä P, Kumpulainen P, Härkönen J, Lintonen T (2021) How are drinking occasions and all alcohol drunk by Finns distributed between different types of drinking occasions - A typology of drinking occasionsLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 82(6), 767–775.
• Mäkelä P, Härkönen J (2021) Alcohol consumption of Finns has decreased: but whose and what kind of consumption?Link to an external websiteOpens in a new tab Addiction Research & Theory, in press.
• Peña, S., Mäkelä, P., Laatikainen, T., Härkänen, T., Männistö, S., Heliövaara, M., and Koskinen, S. (2021) Joint effects of alcohol use, smoking and body mass index as an explanation for the alcohol harm paradox: causal mediation analysis of eight cohort studies. Addiction, 116: 2220– 2230.
• Rossow I, Mäkelä P (2021) Public health thinking around alcohol-related harm: why does per capita consumption matter?Link to an external websiteOpens in a new tab Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 82(1): 9-17.
• Mäkelä P, Rautiainen E, Partanen A, Kuussaari K (2021). Comparison of data sources on alcohol problems: an exploratory exercise using surveys vs. national health care registersLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. NAD 38(2)125-140.
• Peña S, Mäkelä P, Härkänen T, Heliövaara M, Gunnar T, Männistö S, Laatikainen T, Vartiainen E, Koskinen S (2020). Measurement error as an explanation for the alcohol harm paradox: analysis of eight cohort studiesLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. International Journal of Epidemiology 49(6):1836-46. 
• Tigerstedt C, Mäkelä P, Karlsson T, Härkönen J, Lintonen T, Warpenius K (2020) Change and continuity in Finnish drinking in the 21st centuryLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 37(6)609-618.
• Mäkelä P, Warpenius K (2020) Night-time is the right time? Late night drinking in Finnish public and private settingsLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. Drug and Alcohol Review 39(4) 321-329.
• Karlsson T, Mäkelä P, Tigerstedt C, Keskimäki I (2020) The Road to the Alcohol Act 2018 in Finland: A conflict between public health objectives and neoliberal goalsLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. Health Policy 214(1): 1-6.
• Kiiskinen T, Mars NJ, Palviainen T, Koskela J, Rämö JT, Ripatti P, Ruotsalainen S, FinnGen, GSCAN Consortium, Palotie A, Madden PAF, Rose RJ, Kaprio J, Salomaa V, Mäkelä P, Havulinna AS & Ripatti S (2020) Genomic prediction of alcohol-related morbidity and mortalityLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. Transl Psychiatry 10, 23.
• Norström T, Mäkelä P (2019) The connection between per capita alcohol consumption and alcohol‐specific mortality accounting for unrecorded alcohol consumption: The case of Finland 1975–2015. Drug and Alcohol Review 38:731–736, published online 8.9.2019. DOI: 10.1111/dar.12983
• Mäkelä P, Montonen M (2018) Low-risk drinking guidelines to reduce alcohol-related harm: Delphi survey to explore aspects ‘beyond epidemiology’.Link to an external websiteOpens in a new tab Addiction Research & Theory 26(6): 487-497. D 
• Paljärvi T, Martikainen P, Leinonen T, Vuori E, Mäkelä P (2018) Opportunities for preventing severe alcohol-related health outcomes in outpatient settings: a ten-year cohort study of reimbursed purchases of prescription drugs. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 186:175–181.
• Shield K, Gmel G, Gmel G, Mäkelä P, Probst C, Room R, Rehm J (2017) Lifetime risk of mortality due to different levels of alcohol consumption in seven European countries: implications for low-risk drinking guidelines.Link to an external websiteOpens in a new tab Addiction 112(9): 1535-44.  
• Paljärvi, Tapio; Martikainen, Pekka; Vahtera, Jussi; Leinonen, Taina; Mäkelä, Pia: Hospital Admissions Before an Alcohol-Related Death Among Middle-Aged Employed Men and Women: A Cohort Study Using Routine DataLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab; Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 40: 2161–2168, 2016. 
• Mustonen H, Mäkelä P, Lintonen T: Situational drinking in private and public drinking locations: a multilevel analysis of blood alcohol level in Finnish drinking occsionsLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. Drug and Alcohol Review 35(6)772-784, 2016. Published online in May 2016
• Mäkelä P, Maunu A. Come on, have a drink – the prevalence and cultural logic of social pressure to drink more. Link to an external websiteOpens in a new tabDrugs: education, prevention and policy, 23:4, 312-321, 2016. 
• Mäkelä P, Herttua K,  Martikainen P. The Socioeconomic Differences in Alcohol-Related Harm and the Effects of Alcohol Prices on Them: A Summary of Evidence from Finland. Alcohol and AlcoholismLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab 50(6) 661–669, 2015.  
• Paljärvi T, Martikainen P, Pensola T, Leinonen T, Herttua K, Mäkelä P (2015) Life Course Trajectories of Labour Market Participation among Young Adults Who Experienced Severe Alcohol-Related Health Outcomes: A Retrospective Cohort StudyLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0126215. 

Full list of publications (pdf 354 kt)File opens in a new tab pdf 354kB

Dissertation

Mäkelä P. Alkoholiin liittyvät kuolemat. Yleisyys ja yhteys sukupuoleen ja sosioekonomiseen asemaan [Alcohol-related deaths. Incidence and connection to sex and socioeconomic status]. Stakes, Research Reports 105, Helsinki 1999.

More information online

Twitter: @pia_makelaLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab