Harm from the drinking of people you know: A range of effects from different relationships.

AIMS: To describe the range of effects experienced due to the drinking of people respondents know and analyze risk and protective factors for harm from the drinking of partners and household members, other relatives and friends and co-workers. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Surveys of 2574 participants' experiences were obtained from two samples: 1000 people responded to random digitally dialled Australian mobile calls and 1574 participants responded from the Life in AustraliaTM panel survey. MEASUREMENTS: Respondents were asked whether they had been negatively affected in the previous 12 months by the drinking of persons they knew who were 'a heavy drinker or drank a lot sometimes' and the nature of these harms. Weighted logistic regressions were used to analyze differences in rates of key negative outcomes from known others' drinking by gender, age and socio-economic status. FINDINGS: Almost two thirds [60.2%; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 57.7%-62.7%] of participants reported having heavy drinkers in their lives and 21.8% (95% CI = 19.8%-23.9%) reported being negatively affected by the drinking of people they knew well in some way. Participants reported a gamut of effects, including, most commonly, adverse social effects: having to transport relatives and friends who had been drinking, role failure and faults, being emotionally hurt or neglected, serious arguments, family problems, having to care for drinkers and verbal abuse. Less commonly, respondents reported physical or sexual harm, property damage, financial stress and threats from others' drinking. Women (odds ratio = 1.49; 95% CI = 1.13-1.95), younger people, rural, Australian-born (vs. respondents born overseas in non-English speaking countries) and more frequent drinkers were more likely to report harm from a drinker they knew than their counterparts after adjusting for other variables in the model. CONCLUSIONS: Australians appear to be commonly adversely affected by the drinking of people they know. Harms from known drinkers are more likely to be experienced by women than men, particularly from the people they live with and other relatives.

The burden of alcohol-related caring for others in Australia in the 2021 pandemic period.

OBJECTIVE: The magnitude of caring for others due to excessive alcohol use is unclear in Australia and internationally. This study explores the prevalence, sociodemographic predictors, and consequences of informal care for others due to alcohol use. METHOD: A survey on harm from others' drinking was conducted among 2,574 Australian adults in November 2021 from national random digit dial and "Life in Australia" panel samples to elicit representative data. Respondents who indicated they had "heavy drinker/s" in their lives (n= 1,585), were asked about their experience of caring for these drinkers and their dependents in the last 12 months. Weighted logistic and linear regressions examined a) sociodemographic factors associated with informal care due to others' drinking, and b) the impact of the caregiving burden on caregiver's financial status, overall health, and quality of life. RESULTS: Overall, 20% of participants reported caregiving responsibilities arising from others' drinking. Older age, unemployment, residing in capital cities and reporting birth in a non-English speaking background country were associated with a reduced likelihood of caregiving, whereas higher education and more frequent risky drinking were associated with an increased likelihood. Caregivers reported significantly higher financial disadvantage, a lower quality of life and poorer overall health. CONCLUSIONS: One in five adults reported caring for drinkers in the previous 12 months, with this associated with negative consequences for those providing care. Service providers, health promotion practitioners and policy makers should focus upon younger age groups, those who live in regional areas, and those born in Australia who are at greater risk of being burdened by caregiving due to others' alcohol use.

Exploring the relationship between solitary drinking and living without other adults on alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIMS: The COVID-19 pandemic presents the opportunity to learn about solitary drinking as many people were forced to spend time at home. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between solitary drinking and living without other adults on alcohol consumption. METHODS: A longitudinal study with four survey waves (between May and November 2020) obtained seven-day drinking diary data from Australian adults living in New South Wales. In May, a convenience sample of 586 participants (Mage = 35.3, SD = 14.8; 65.3% women) completed the first wave. Participants then completed a survey in June (n = 319, 54.4% response rate), July/August (n = 225, 38.4% response rate), and November (n = 222, 37.9% response rate). Information about alcohol consumption including risky drinking (more than four drinks on one occasion), household structure, solitary drinking, and demographics were collected. We conducted random-effects panel bivariate and multivariable regression analyses predicting the number of standard drinks and risky drinking. RESULTS: Participants with solitary drinking occasions consumed more and had more risky drinking occasions than participants with no solitary drinking occasions, which was also found to be the case during lockdown. Living without other adults was associated with less consumption and less risky drinking than living with other adults. However, participants who lived without other adults and had frequent solitary drinking occasions (solitary drinking in >50% drinking occasions) reported more consumption than participants without a solitary drinking occasion. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals who consume alcohol alone and live without other adults or spend long periods of time at home may be more at risk of alcohol-related harm.

The prevalence of alcohol references in music and their effect on people's drinking behavior: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Understanding the prevalence of alcohol references in music and their impact on alcohol drinking behavior is important given the increased accessibility to daily music listening with the proliferation of smart devices. In this review, we estimate the pooled prevalence of alcohol references in music and its association with drinking behavior. Systematic searches were conducted across four major databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINHAL). Articles were selected following duplicate checking, title and abstract screening, and full-text review. Studies reporting the prevalence of alcohol-referencing music and/or investigating its association with drinking behavior were included. Pooled prevalence with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed using a random effects model. Of 1007 articles identified, 26 met inclusion criteria and 23 studies comprising 12,224 songs were eligible for meta-analysis. The overall pooled prevalence of alcohol references in music (including lyrics and videos) was 24.0% (95% CI: 19.0%-29.0%). The pooled prevalence was 22.0% (95% CI: 16.0%-29.0%) for only lyrics, 25.0% (95% CI: 18.0%-33.0%) for only the visual elements of music videos, and 29.0% (95% CI: 21.0%-38.0%) for both the lyrical content and the visual components. Only three studies assessed the relationship between listening to music with alcohol references and drinking behavior, and all three reported a positive association. Whereas almost a quarter of all songs included references to alcohol, public health preventive measures are needed to reduce alcohol exposure from music. Future research is needed to understand fully the effect of music with alcohol references on drinking behavior.

How to apply zero-shot learning to text data in substance use research: An overview and tutorial with media data.

A vast amount of media-related text data is generated daily in the form of social media posts, news stories or academic articles. These text data provide opportunities for researchers to analyse and understand how substance-related issues are being discussed. The main methods to analyse large text data (content analyses or specifically trained deep-learning models) require substantial manual annotation and resources. A machine-learning approach called 'zero-shot learning' may be quicker, more flexible and require fewer resources. Zero-shot learning uses models trained on large, unlabelled (or weakly labelled) data sets to classify previously unseen data into categories on which the model has not been specifically trained. This means that a pre-existing zero-shot learning model can be used to analyse media-related text data without the need for task-specific annotation or model training. This approach may be particularly important for analysing data that is time critical. This article describes the relatively new concept of zero-shot learning and how it can be applied to text data in substance use research, including a brief practical tutorial.

Social and contextual factors associated with drinking before, during and after watching Australian Football League games: A pilot ecological momentary assessment study.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to: (i) determine the feasibility of using ecological momentary assessment to collect data from Australian Football League (AFL) fans; (ii) explore pre-game, during-game and post-game consumption patterns of AFL fans; and (iii) explore the social and setting-related factors associated with risky single occasion drinking (5+ drinks) among AFL fans. METHODS: Thirty-four participants completed up to 10 ecological momentary assessment surveys before, during and after 63 AFL games (n = 437 completed surveys). Surveys collected data about their drinking, and their social and environmental milieu (e.g., location, company). Binary logistic regression analyses clustered by participant identified which game-day characteristics were associated with higher odds of risky single occasion drinking. Significant differences between pre-game, during-game and post-game drinking on social and environmental factors were explored using pairwise comparisons. RESULTS: Risky single occasion drinking was more likely when games began in the early-afternoon (1-3 pm) than late-afternoon (3-6 pm), when participants watched the game at a stadium or pub compared to home, and when participants watched the game with friends compared to family. Pre-drinking was more likely before night games and post-drinking was more likely after day games. Drinking during the game was heavier when watching the game at a pub and when watching with a combined group of friends and family. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary findings suggest that social and contextual factors matter in the way alcohol is consumed while watching AFL games. These findings require further investigation in larger samples.

Drinking before sporting events in Australia: An ecological momentary assessment study.

This study investigates the individual and event-level correlates of drinking prior to attending Australian Football League (AFL) games among a sample of Australian spectators.A total of 30 adults (20% female, mean age = 32) completed a series of questionnaires (n = 417) before, during, and after an AFL match on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Cluster-adjusted regression analyses were conducted to examine the impact of individual-level (age, gender, drinking habits) and event-level factors (time and day of game, location of viewing the game, viewing with friends or family) on drinking prevalence and the number of drinks consumed prior to the game.41.4% of participants engaged in drinking before attending an AFL match with a mean of 2.3 drinks consumed by those who reported pre-game consumption. Those aged 30 and over were significantly more likely to engage in pre-game consumption (OR = 14.44, p = 0.024) and consumed significantly more pre-game (B = 1.39, p = 0.030). Drinking before the game was significantly more likely before night games than daytime games (OR = 5.24, p = 0.039). Those who watched the game on-premise consumed significantly more before the game than those who watched the game at a private residence or at home (B = 1.06, p = 0.030). Those who watched games with family also drank significantly less prior to the game than those who attended without family (B=-1.35, p = 0.010).Addressing the contextual factors associated with drinking before the sporting events, such as the time of the game, may assist with efforts to reduce risky alcohol consumption and related harm.

The promise of zero-shot learning for alcohol image detection: comparison with a task-specific deep learning algorithm.

Exposure to alcohol content in media increases alcohol consumption and related harm. With exponential growth of media content, it is important to use algorithms to automatically detect and quantify alcohol exposure. Foundation models such as Contrastive Language-Image Pretraining (CLIP) can detect alcohol exposure through Zero-Shot Learning (ZSL) without any additional training. In this paper, we evaluated the ZSL performance of CLIP against a supervised algorithm called Alcoholic Beverage Identification Deep Learning Algorithm Version-2 (ABIDLA2), which is specifically trained to recognise alcoholic beverages in images, across three tasks. We found ZSL achieved similar performance compared to ABIDLA2 in two out of three tasks. However, ABIDLA2 outperformed ZSL in a fine-grained classification task in which determining subtle differences among alcoholic beverages (including containers) are essential. We also found that phrase engineering is essential for improving the performance of ZSL. To conclude, like ABIDLA2, ZSL with little phrase engineering can achieve promising performance in identifying alcohol exposure in images. This makes it easier for researchers, with little or no programming background, to implement ZSL effectively to obtain insightful analytics from digital media. Such analytics can assist researchers and policy makers to propose regulations that can prevent alcohol exposure and eventually prevent alcohol consumption.

Alcohol's harm to others in 2021: Who bears the burden?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Alcohol's harm to others (AHTO) has become a key driver of national and international alcohol policy. This study aimed to produce a contemporary, comprehensive estimate of the correlates and harms from others' drinking in 2021 in Australia. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS: Across Australia, 2574 adults (1380 women; 1172 men) were sampled via two cross-sectional survey modes: a random-digit dial mobile phone sample of 1000 people and 1574 people from the Life in Australia™ panel survey. In 2021 participants were asked about harms they had experienced from the drinking of family, friends, co-workers and the public in the past year. Applying combined sample weights from each mode, bivariable and adjusted multivariable logistic regressions were used to analyse differences in rates of AHTO by participant gender, age, residence in rural or metropolitan regions, country of birth, education and employment. FINDINGS: In 2021, 23.6% reported being negatively affected by strangers' drinking and 21.3% by the drinking of someone they knew, with 34.3% reporting being negatively affected a lot or a little by either; 42.4% of respondents reported specific harms from strangers' drinking. Thus, 48.1% of respondents reported any harm (negative effects or specific harms) from others' drinking. Women, younger people, Australian-born and heavier episodic drinkers reported significantly higher rates of AHTO compared with other respondents. Smaller percentages (7.5%) of participants reported being harmed substantially by others' drinking, including by people they knew (5.8%) or strangers (2.3%). Stratified analyses showed that heavier drinking, furloughed, younger men who were born overseas in English-speaking countries were affected by others' drinking, whereas women were affected regardless of these factors (apart from age). CONCLUSIONS: More than one-third of Australian adults appear to have been negatively affected by others' drinking in 2021, with women, younger people and heavier drinkers at greater risk. Substantial harm appears to be more likely to arise from the drinking of people Australians know than from strangers' drinking.

Pre-drinking motives are directly associated with alcohol-related consequences even after adjusting for alcohol use on a given night: A consequence-specific analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Pre-drinking motives (PDM) are linked with different characteristics of pre-drinking occasions (e.g., fast-paced drinking, socializing, moving across locations) that are potentially related to adverse night-level consequences. This study examines the direct associations of three PDM dimensions (fun/intoxication, facilitation, and conviviality) with the occurrence of five consequences (hangover, impaired driving, blackout, risky sex, fight/injury) over and above amounts of alcohol consumed that night. METHODS: A sample of 138 young adult nightlife goers (55.1 % men, Mage = 19.0 SD = 2.4) in Switzerland reported PDM at baseline, and subsequently reported night-level alcohol use and consequences the next morning on 12.1 weekend nights on average (N = 1,663 participant-nights). Correlational analyses and multilevel logistic regression models assessed associations between PDM and night-level consequences. RESULTS: After adjusting for amounts consumed, age, sex and monthly pre-drinking frequency, conviviality PDM were associated with higher odds of risky sex (OR = 2.68) and lower odds of blackout (OR = 0.57) while fun/intoxication PDM were associated with lower odds of risky sex (OR = 0.35). Interaction analyses per gender showed that fun/intoxication PDM were associated with lower odds of impaired driving among women (OR = 0.25). Results remained the same when adjusting for general drinking motives, which were not associated with night-level consequences. CONCLUSION: PDM might better capture risk factors for experiencing night-level consequences than general drinking motives. Preventive intervention should make young people aware that pre-drinking is not only associated with higher amounts of alcohol consumed, but also with increased risks of specific night-level consequences, including blackouts and risky sexual behaviors, depending on the level of endorsement of each PDM.

Commercial Advertising of Alcohol: Using Law to Challenge Public Health Regulation.

In most countries, the alcohol industry enjoys considerable freedom to market its products. Where government regulation is proposed or enacted, the alcohol industry has often deployed legal arguments and used legal forums to challenge regulation. Governments considering marketing regulation must be cognizant of relevant legal constraints and be prepared to defend their policies against industry legal challenges.

A time-series analysis of the association between alcohol and suicide in Australia.

INTRODUCTION: 800,000 people die by suicide every year according to World Health Organisation data. Studies have shown associations between alcohol consumption and suicide, with most demonstrating that alcohol consumption increases suicide risk. However, some studies from high consumption countries show results in the opposite direction. This present study examines the association between per capita (PC) alcohol consumption and same year suicide mortality in Australia, and tests for lag effects, between 1910 and 2017. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Age and gender-specific autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models were used to examine associations between alcohol consumption PC and suicide mortality rates. Associations between unemployment, divorce, barbiturates access, and the Great Depression and World War II, and suicide were examined. RESULTS: A 10% increase in PC alcohol consumption was associated with a 5% and 5.1% decrease in overall and male suicide mortality respectively in the same year. However, a 10% increase in PC alcohol consumption was associated with an 5.1% and 5.4% increase in overall and male suicide mortality respectively 12 years later. This association differed among age groups and was significant in the male population only. Unemployment, divorce, the Great Depression and WW2, and barbiturates access were significantly associated with same year suicide mortality. DISCUSSION: Contemporaneous alcohol consumption was associated with decreased suicide mortality, but was also associated with an increased risk of suicide 12 years later. Unemployment and barbiturates access were associated with an increased risk of suicide. Interventions and policies that address chronic alcohol consumption and support the unemployed may reduce suicide mortality.

Fun/intoxication pre-drinking motives lead indirectly to more alcohol-related consequences via increased alcohol consumption on a given night.

INTRODUCTION: Pre-drinking increases alcohol use on drinking nights, which is associated with various adverse alcohol-related consequences but what motivates people to do so, i.e. the role of pre-drinking motives (PDM) in this link, is unclear. The current study examined a) the association of three PDM factors (fun/intoxication, facilitation, and conviviality) with average night-level alcohol use, b) whether PDM are associated with adverse alcohol-related consequences (hangover, drunk driving, blackout, risky sex, injury, and fights) and c) whether PDM mediates the link between night-level alcohol use and negative consequences. METHODS: A sample of 204 young adult nightlife goers (48.8% males, Mage = 19 SD = 2.4) from Switzerland reported PDM at baseline, and subsequently participated in a 2-month event-level study. Regressions models assessed direct and mediated associations. RESULTS: Fun/intoxication PDM predicted alcohol use in subsequent drinking nights (11.3 nights per participant on average), but not the two other PDM. No direct link between PDM and consequences was found. However, fun/intoxication PDM lead indirectly to more adverse consequences through higher alcohol use. CONCLUSION: This study shows that predominantly 'fun/intoxication' predrinkers are at increased risk for alcohol consumption and consequences, but not those who predrink for conviviality or facilitation motives. The outcomes thus suggest the importance of specific PDM in preventing alcohol use for instance by tailoring interventions based on individuals' PDM in order to curb drinking and its associated consequences among young adults on weekend nights out.

Mental health of college students during the COVID-19 epidemic in China.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the psychological status of college students in China during the COVID-19 outbreak, and offer some theoretical evidence for psychological intervention of college students. METHODS: An online survey was conducted from May 10, 2020 to June 10, 2020. Anxiety symptoms were measured by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale (GAD-7). Categorical data were reported as number and percentage, while continuous data were reported as mean ± SD. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between different factors and anxiety symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 89,588 college students participated in the current study, among which 36,865 students (41.1%) reported anxiety symptoms. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the risk factors for anxiety symptoms included the age of 26-30 (OR=1.456), sophomore (OR=1.038), junior (OR=1.087) and senior grades (OR=1.161), a higher paternal education level (OR=1.055), low economic status (OR=1.520), and low social support (OR=1.542). CONCLUSIONS: About two-fifths of Chinese college students experienced anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 epidemic. Timely and appropriate psychological interventions for college students should be implemented to reduce the psychological harm caused by COVID-19 epidemic.