International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research

Alcohol guidelines, post-incarceration social network dynamics, alcohol’s harms to others, drinking and cannabis use in private schools

Rachel O'Donnell — 2024-12-12

Adolescent alcohol drinking and cannabis use: Longitudinal and cohort analysis of high school students in Australia

Lily Davidson — 2024-10-29

Aims: The final year of high school is a challenging phase, during which substance use is common. We conducted longitudinal and cohort comparisons on the levels of alcohol and cannabis use among final year (Year 12) high school students compared to the previous year.

Design: Longitudinal and cohort analyses of self-reported survey data.

Setting: Ten independent schools across South-East Queensland, Australia.

Participants: Year 12 students in 2020 (n = 1024) were compared (a) longitudinally with themselves in Year 11; and (b) to the 2019 Year 12 cohort (n = 632).

Measures: Self-reported alcohol and cannabis use. Analyses adjusted for socio-demographic, parental, and schooling variables.

Findings: Longitudinally, Year 12 students of 2020 had higher odds of having six or more drinks per occasion, monthly or more often, and reporting lifetime cannabis use, compared to themselves in 2019. However, they were not more likely to drink alcohol weekly or more often in 2020 versus 2019. Compared to the 2019 cohort, the 2020 cohort had higher odds of drinking weekly or more often, having six or more drinks per occasion monthly, and reporting lifetime cannabis use.

Conclusions: The 2020 cohort of Year 12 adolescents were more likely to engage in heavy drinking and cannabis use, compared to themselves the previous year, and compared to the previous cohort. Greater alcohol consumption and likelihood of cannabis use among the 2020 cohort might be explained by increased age and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research to monitor if this is a continuing trend is warranted.

Harms to children from men’s heavy drinking: A scoping review

Cassandra Hopkins — 2024-12-02

Background: Research has examined a range of impacts of women’s drinking on children. However, fewer studies have addressed the consequences of men’s heavy drinking on children. This review aims to identify and describe the types of behaviours and actions that arise from men's drinking and are likely to cause harm to children and to identify and describe the types of harms that children experience that stem from men's drinking.

Methods: Review articles from 1990 to September 2023 were included. Four health and social databases were searched for reviews that included terms relating to men, alcohol consumption, and child harms. From 1,873 identified articles, 19 articles met the criteria for inclusion.

Results: Four broad topics were identified: relationships and families; violence and maltreatment; and health, social and education outcomes for children. Children may experience both direct and indirect harms associated with men’s drinking. The former includes examples where men’s drinking was linked to disinhibition, aggression, and physical assault. In the latter, men were absent resulting in being unavailable emotionally due to drinking. Internalising and externalising behaviours were common outcomes for children exposed to men’s drinking. Contextual factors such as poverty, cultural norms and patriarchal influences were interrelated and sometimes exacerbated harm to children from men’s drinking.

Conclusions: This review highlights the immediate and longer-lasting consequences of men’s drinking for children, including family conflict, maltreatment, and emotional distress. Future studies should address gender disparities and consider the social factors present in cases where children are exposed to men’s drinking.

Shaping effective public health messaging for global impact: An analysis of the media coverage of Canada’s proposed updated alcohol guidelines

Trygve Ugland — 2024-07-10

Background: This paper analyses the news media coverage of Canada’s proposed updated alcohol guidelines that were submitted for public consultation in the fall of 2022.

Methods: Systematic media tracking was performed from August 29 to October 14, 2022 in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. News articles were included if they mentioned the guidelines, and they were classified as positive, negative, or neutral in tone. Different types of arguments were inductively identified and defined from the raw data.

Results: Canada’s proposed updated guidelines received substantial media attention. In total, 870 articles were identified over the nine-week period: 85 positive, 279 negative and 506 neutral articles. A clear majority of the articles were duplicates, and 65 were original (24 positive, 22 negative and 19 neutral articles). Most articles were coded for several arguments. All positive articles evoked the Scientific Argument stating that the guidelines demonstrated that alcohol was harmful and/or more harmful than previously thought. The Access to Information Argument, which highlights that people lack knowledge about the risks of alcohol and that they have the right to know, was also evoked in a majority of the positive articles. Most negative articles criticized the guidelines for overlooking the benefits of alcohol and exaggerating its risks. The Canadian proposed updated guidelines seemed to receive comparatively more attention, and a higher number of positive news articles compared to what has been observed elsewhere.

Conclusions: The paper suggests that informative guidance based on people’s right to know about the risks of alcohol rather than firm prescriptive guidelines may generate more positive coverage in the news media. Furthermore, the paper highlights the importance of public health actors adopting a strategic and coordinated knowledge translation and exchange approach to counteract the predominantly negative reception from the commercial and alcohol industry actors.

Social network dynamics of tobacco smoking and alcohol use among persons involved with the criminal legal system (PCLS): A modeling study

Aditya Khanna — 2024-10-01

Background: Tobacco smoking and alcohol use contribute to a synergy of epidemics (a “syndemic”) that disproportionately affects persons involved with the criminal legal system (PCLS) and their social networks. An improved understanding of the complex interrelationships among the factors of the incarceration-tobacco-alcohol syndemic is essential to develop effective reform policies and interventions. However, collecting empirical data on these interrelationships is often hampered due to logistical and ethical challenges.

Methods: We developed an agent-based network model (ABNM) to simulate the effects of the incarceration-tobacco-alcohol syndemic in the state of Rhode Island, USA. The model was validated and calibrated using empirical survey and demographic data. Outcomes included current smoking and heavy alcohol use rates in the first year after release among previously incarcerated agents and in their social networks.

Results: The model successfully replicated demographic, substance use, and incarceration-related parameters. Simulation results suggest high rates of smoking (approximately 80% currently smoking persons in the first few weeks after release) and heavy alcohol use (approximately 40% current heavy alcohol use rate in the first few weeks after release) among PCLS, especially persons with multiple incarceration events. The model also estimated elevated rates of current smoking and current heavy alcohol use in the direct social contacts of PCLS.

Discussion: This ABNM integrates biobehavioral health processes relating to incarceration and substance use. This model can be used as a platform to evaluate the potential impacts of interventions provided to PCLS and their networks

Furthering understanding of the scope and variation of alcohol and drug harms to others: Using qualitative discussion groups to inform survey development

Katherine Karriker-Jaffe — 2024-09-27

Aims: Alcohol and drug use can have negative effects on family and friends of someone who uses these substances. To give voice to people with lived experience, we sought in-depth qualitative data from people who experienced such harms to others (HTO) to better understand the scope and variation of alcohol and drug HTO to inform future survey research in the United States (US).

Design: Five discussion groups with people from varied racial and ethnic groups.

Setting: Five US cities with different sociodemographic profiles and alcohol and drug use patterns.

Participants: Family members of individuals with substance use disorders (SUD).

Measures: Thematic analysis was used to identify themes and highlight harms that have not been well-represented in US general population surveys to date.

Findings: Discussion group participants described how alcohol and drug HTO can have long-lasting effects, raising questions about strategies to query and document harms occurring over the life course. The emotional stress and burden of a close relationship with someone with SUD was a recurrent theme. Participants also noted how systems and policies may inadvertently intensify HTO through negative interactions with legal or social service entities. In addition, they identified helpful community resources (including Al-Anon) for people impacted by someone else’s substance use.

Conclusions: Qualitative data from people with relevant lived experience identified new areas for alcohol and other drug HTO research, including duration of harms across the lifespan, emotional and psychological impacts, and systems-level harms. Findings informed a redesign of our national survey instrument to efficiently capture the broad range of HTO.