Correlates of alcohol consumption on heavy drinking occasions of young risky drinkers: event versus personal characteristics

A review of factors influencing drinking behaviours in young Australian adults using a behavioural framework approach

ISSUES

Young adults (aged 18-24 years) are more likely to binge drink than any other age group in Australia. These behaviours expose young adults to possible adverse events, with potential for acute harms.

APPROACH

A behavioural framework (capability, opportunity, motivation-behaviour [COM-B model]) was used to explore factors that influence the drinking behaviours of young Australian adults. Potential studies were identified by searching four online data bases. Content pertaining to factors moderating young adults' alcohol consumption behaviours (either increasing or decreasing alcohol consumption) in an Australian population was extracted. Factors were then categorised/mapped into the six sub-components of the COM-B model. A narrative synthesis/discussion was subsequently undertaken.

KEY FINDINGS

Factors increasing or reducing alcohol consumption behaviours were identified across all components of the COM-B model. Overall, alcohol consumption behaviours appear strongly influenced by physical and social opportunities, and young adults have reflective and automatic motivations (i.e., habitual processes, emotional responding and analytical decisional making that directs behaviour) to consume alcohol with purpose and/or reason.

IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION

The use of a behavioural framework (e.g., the COM-B model) facilitates an integrated understanding of factors influencing alcohol consumption behaviours. Future harm minimisation strategies need to consider the interrelated, contemporary factors underpinning a young adult's decision to consume alcohol within the context of modern Australian society.

The new suit of the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs (SoRAD): A well-tailored costume for tackling research and challenges ahead

This overview reviews the establishment and evolution of the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs (SoRAD). It outlines its current organisation and updated research direction, and discusses SoRAD’s future challenges and opportunities. SoRAD was established at Stockholm University to strengthen and support Swedish social science research on alcohol and drugs. It became active in 1999, and quickly grew in research efforts and reputation, while experiencing setbacks around 2006 and 2017. In 2018 SoRAD merged with the Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS), to form a new Department of Public Health Sciences. In its new suit, SoRAD acts as a research centre within the teaching department. The research activities on alcohol and other drugs and gambling behaviour and problems may be categorised into four main areas: social epidemiology; subcultures and social worlds of use and heavy use; policy formation, implementation and societal responses; and societal and other collective definitions of problems and solutions. The new arrangements, with an increased staff pool and close interplay with higher education, provide a more stable and long-term platform for achieving the main mission of promoting and developing social science research on addictive substances and behaviours and related problems.

Effects of Question Type and Order When Measuring Peak Consumption of Risky Drinking Events

AIMS

There is new interest in measuring alcohol consumption during risky drinking events, but there is little guidance on how to best ask such questions. In this study, we contrast two different types of questions on peak consumption over a single heavy drinking occasion. We used a general question that ask respondents to recall the total amount consumed (total consumption question), and location-specific questions that ask respondents to recall consumption in each drinking location (location-specific peak consumption, LSPC).

METHODS

Heavy drinkers (≥11 Australian Standard Drinks (ASD) per occasion for males, ≥8 for females) from the second wave of a prospective cohort study were recruited via landline random digit dial from Melbourne in 2012. Respondents were randomly assigned to surveys of different question order, and either first received total consumption (n = 127) or LSPC questions (n = 147). T-tests compared peak consumption between categories stratified by sex and consumption tercile.

RESULTS

Mean peak consumption was 12.5 ASD. Irrespective of question order, consumption amounts for total consumption and LSPC questions were not significantly different for both sexes. However, drinkers in the highest tercile asked LSPC questions first provided significantly higher consumption estimates in response to the total consumption question than in response to the LSPC questions.

CONCLUSION

At a population level, LSPC and total consumption questions produce similar estimates of peak consumption for risky drinking events. Except for heavy drinkers, general consumption questions may be sufficient when asking about these drinking events in consumption surveys, without the greater response burden of longer LSPC questions.

The contexts of heavy drinking: A systematic review of the combinations of context-related factors associated with heavy drinking occasions

Background

The amount of alcohol consumed during an occasion can be influenced by physical and social attributes of the setting, characteristics and state of individuals, and the interactions of these components. This systematic review identifies and describes the specific combinations and sequences of context-related factors that are associated with heavy drinking occasions.

Materials and methods

We conducted a systematic literature search of MEDLINE, Embase and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases. Eligible articles were event-level and event-based studies that quantitatively analysed associations of sequences or combinations of context-related factors with event-level alcohol consumption. We extracted information on study design, sample, variables, effect estimates and analytical methods. We compiled a list of combinations and sequences associated with heavier drinking (i.e., ‘risky contexts’) and with lighter drinking (‘protective contexts’). The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42018089500).

Results

We screened 1902 retrieved records and identified a final sample of 65 eligible studies. Daily mood, day of week, location and drinking group characteristics are important drivers of whether an individual engages in a heavy drinking occasion. The direction and magnitude of some associations differed by gender, age, personality and motives, such that in particular social or physical contexts, some people may feel compelled to drink more while others are compelled to drink less. Very few sequences of factors were reported as being associated with event-level alcohol consumption.

Conclusions

Contexts or factors are experienced in specific sequences that shape the broader drinking context and influence drinking behaviours and consequences but are under-studied. Event-level studies such as those using ecological momentary assessment can harness new technologies for data collection and analysis to improve understandings of why people engage in heavy drinking. Continued event-level research will facilitate public health interventions and policies that reduce heavy drinking and alcohol-related harms.