Surveying the range and magnitude of alcohol's harm to others in Australia
Abstract
Aims This study aims to document the adverse effects of drinkers in Australia on people other than the drinker. Design Cross‐sectional survey. Setting In a national survey of Australia, respondents described the harmful effects they experienced from drinkers in their households, family and friendship networks, as well as work‐place and community settings. Participants A randomly selected sample of 2649 adult Australians. Measurements Problems experienced because of others' drinking were ascertained via computer‐assisted telephone interviews. Respondent and drinker socio‐demographic and drinking pattern data were recorded. Findings A total of 70% of respondents were affected by strangers' drinking and experienced nuisance, fear or abuse, and 30% reported that the drinking of someone close to them had negative effects, although only 11% were affected by such a person ‘a lot’. Women were more affected by someone they knew in the household or family, while men were more affected by strangers, friends and co‐workers. Young adults were consistently the most negatively affected across the majority of types of harm. Conclusions Substantial proportions of Australians are affected by other people's drinking, including that of their families, friends, co‐workers and strangers. These harms range in magnitude from noise and fear to physical abuse, sexual coercion and social isolation.
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Alcohol has a marked impact on the health of persons other than the drinker.
“Like tobacco, alcohol has a marked impact upon the health of others than the drinker 328, 329, 330, 331.”
From The relationship between different dimensions of alcohol use and the burden of disease—an update (2017) · cites this paper as [330]
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The relationship between different dimensions of alcohol use and the burden of disease—an update
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Laslett, A., Room, R., Ferris, J., Wilkinson, C., Livingston, M., & Mugavin, J.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Eastern Health (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Laslett, Anne‐Marie
- ORCID
- Venue
- Addiction
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-08-05
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1603-1611
- ISSN
- 0965-2140 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-0443
- OpenAlex
- W1960340473
- Cited by
- 245
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 8.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Addiction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eSpace (Curtin University) (submittedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Drug Research Institute
- National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Homelessness and Social Issues
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Keywords
- workplace drinking, noise annoyance, sexual coercion, social isolation, gender differences, young adults, Australia
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholic Intoxication, Australia, Cross-Sectional Studies, Family Health, Fear, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Interviews as Topic, Male, Middle Aged, Noise, Social Isolation, Violence, Workplace, Age Distribution, Sex Distribution, Friends, Young Adult
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