Abstract
Regional and Gender Differences in Alcohol's Harms to Others: Findings from the Multinational GENAHTO Study
Richard Wilsnack, Ph.D.1, Sharon Wilsnack, Ph.D.1, Arlinda Kristjanson, Ph.D.1, Ulrike Grittner, PD, Dr.Phil2, Kim Bloomfield, DrPH3, Thomas K. Greenfield, Ph.D.4 and Ross Crosby, Ph.D.5
(1)University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, ND, (2)Charite -- Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany, (3)Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark, (4)Public Health Institute, Emeryville, CA, (5)Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Fargo, ND
APHA's 2018 Annual Meeting & Expo (Nov. 10 - Nov. 14)
Background: Research on alcohol's harms to people other than the drinker (AHTO) includes multinational studies but with scarce attention to possible variation in harms (a) among subnational regions, and (b) between men and women. Knowledge about such regional and gender differences may be important for policies to reduce AHTO. This study analyzes regional and gender differences in multinational data on how AHTO are caused and experienced.
Methods: Regional and gender-specific data on AHTO came from harms drinkers reported causing in surveys of the GENACIS project (>12,000 drinkers in 10 countries) and experiences of being harmed reported in surveys of the GENAHTO project (>30,000 individuals in 12 countries). Harms measured in these surveys included drinking-related injuries, threats to person and property, physical assaults, damaged social relationships, and financial costs. Models for three levels of variables (country/region/individual) included gender, age, and specific regional drinking patterns (e.g., gender-specific prevalence of drinking and heavy episodic drinking [HED]).
Results: Twelve-month prevalence rates of specific harms were low (typically < 10%). Most harms were more likely to be perpetrated by men, and some (e.g., intimate relationship and financial harms) were more likely to be experienced by women. Multilevel analyses showed significant associations of AHTO with regional characteristics, even after taking into account country, age, and gender. For example, prevalence of harms experienced from strangers' drinking was higher in regions with high rates of men's HED.
Conclusions: National alcohol policies intended to prevent AHTO, and policy enforcement, may need to be modified to take better account of regional and gender differences in how such harms are caused and experienced. Such policy changes would be strengthened by further research into processes underlying regional and gender differences. Gender disparities in harms perpetrated and experienced may help identify important specific targets for prevention and policy.
Diversity and culture Epidemiology Public health or related public policy Public health or related research Social and behavioral sciences
Abstract
Using latent trajectories of peer aggression and victimization in childhood to predict drinking behaviors in adolescence and young adulthood
Wen-chi Wu, Ph.D.1, Anne Buu, Ph. D.2 and Hsing-Yi Chang, DR.PH3
(1)Kainan University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, (2)University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, (3)National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan, Miaoli County, Taiwan
APHA's 2018 Annual Meeting & Expo (Nov. 10 - Nov. 14)
Purposes:
The association between aggression and drinking behaviors has been mainly built upon cross-sectional or short-term longitudinal data. Existing studies only examined either aggression or victimization as independent processes. This study aims to model peer aggression and victimization in childhood as two correlated simultaneous processes and investigate their long-term effects on drinking behaviors in adolescence and young adulthood in a general population sample from a life-course perspective.
Methods:
Secondary analysis was conducted on longitudinal data from the Child and Adolescent Behaviors in Long-Term Evolution (CABLE) study which followed school children in Taiwan from 2001 (aged 7) annually to 2016. The group-based multi-trajectory modeling was employed to classify the trajectories of childhood aggression-victimization based on data from 2,555 participants who provided at least three waves of aggression and victimization data during the 4th-9th grades (aged 10-15). Drinking outcomes included the onset age, quantity, and frequency of drinking as well as alcoholic symptoms at ages 15-22. The linear mixed model and cox regression model were used to examine the effects of childhood aggression-victimization trajectories on drinking outcomes, controlling for sociodemographic factors and parental drinking behaviors.
Results:
Four latent classes of childhood aggression-victimization were identified: non-involvers (54.03%), mild involvers (34.03%), victims (5.54%), and aggressors (6.40%). Aggressors, victims and mild involvers all had significantly higher quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption and earlier onset of drinking than non-involvers. Aggressors had the highest risk for initiating drinking early, involving in binge drinking, and experiencing alcoholic symptoms. Victims were at particularly high risk for drinking alone.
Conclusions:
The developmental trajectory of childhood aggression-victimization may serve as an early harbinger to predict risky alcohol use in adolescence and adulthood.
Advocacy for health and health education Epidemiology Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs Public health or related public policy Public health or related research Social and behavioral sciences
Abstract
Exploring Underage Alcohol Use and Quality of Life among Adolescent Girls in Nepal, 2014
Sugy Choi, PhD1, Juhwan Oh, MD, MPH, DrPH2 and Megan Cole, PhD1
(1)Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, (2)Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of (South)
APHA's 2018 Annual Meeting & Expo (Nov. 10 - Nov. 14)
Background: Underage drinking has been associated with poor health outcomes.
Early exposure to alcohol increases the chance of developing an alcohol use
disorder in later life. The relationship between underage drinking and the perceived
quality of life have not been assessed despite its potential effects for adolescents.
Up to date, no research has evaluated this relationship in a low-resource setting.
Methods: This study examined the prevalence of underage drinking and its
association with the perceived quality of life among 3,438 adolescent girls aged
15–20 using the UNICEF MICS survey data from Nepal in 2014. A composite
indicator measuring the self-perceived quality of life was constructed using
individual-level social, economic and health satisfaction indicators. Multivariate
regression analyses adjusted for age, wealth, education level, region, marital status
and age when alcohol was used for the first time.
Results: In contrast to non-drinkers, underage drinkers’ quality of life score was
likely to decrease by .20 (p<.001), but after adjusting for covariates, minimal
differences were detected. For every year increase in the age when alcohol was
used for the first time, adolescent girls were more likely to attain .01 higher on the
quality of life score.
Conclusion: Findings suggest that while the effect is modest, underage drinking
status is related to a lower perceived quality of life score. This study can inform
future alcohol prevention and treatment programs that target adolescent girls in
Nepal.
Advocacy for health and health education Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs Public health or related research Social and behavioral sciences
Abstract
Cross-national comparisons and correlates of harms from the drinking of people with whom you work
Anne-Marie Laslett, BDSc, MDSc, MPH, PhD1, Oliver Stanesby, BSc, MSc (Epidemiology)2, Sharon Wilsnack, Ph.D.3 and Tom Greenfield, PhD4
(1)National Drug Research Institute and Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Melbourne, Australia, (2)La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, (3)University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, ND, (4)Public Health Institute, Emeryville, CA
APHA's 2018 Annual Meeting & Expo (Nov. 10 - Nov. 14)
Research in high-income countries has identified the risks of workplace accidents, reduced productivity and injuries associated with drinkers’ self-reported alcohol consumption. Scant attention has been paid to alcohol’s harm to others in the workplace anywhere, although recent Australian findings indicated that the cost of co-workers’ drinking to the Australian economy was an estimated AUD$453 million annually. Aim: To compare estimates and predictors of alcohol’s impacts upon co-workers from 13 countries, including low- and high-income countries across five continents. Methods: Cross-sectional surveys from Switzerland, Australia, USA, Ireland, New Zealand, Brazil, Nigeria, Chile, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka with response rates varying from 31% in Australia to 99% in Laos. Five items about harms respondents had experienced because of others’ drinking were asked, had: they covered for a worker, their own productivity reduced, their ability to do their job affected, they been involved in an accident or a close call, or they worked extra hours. Logistic regression and meta-analysis with one or more harms (vs none) and involved in an accident (vs not) as outcomes with age, sex, work-type (casual, permanent), respondent drinking and education as predictors. Results: Between 1% in New Zealand and 16% in Thailand (with most countries in the 6-13% range) of respondents reported that they had been adversely affected by a coworkers’ drinking in the previous year. Smaller percentages, <1% to 7% of respondents reported being in an accident due to others’ drinking. Younger, male and casual employees were in some countries (e.g., Laos) more likely to report harm from coworkers’ drinking. Conclusions: Harms are experienced not only by a substantial minority of workers, but impact also health and socioeconomic development, particularly in low-income countries. This cross-national comparison underlines the magnitude and the various cultural and socioeconomic factors underlying workplace harms to others from alcohol.
Biostatistics, economics Epidemiology Occupational health and safety Public health or related public policy Public health or related research Social and behavioral sciences