Written by Joyce Smith, BS. The secondhand effects of alcohol in the United States are substantial and are affected by sociodemographics, the harmed individual’s own drinking, and the presence of a heavy drinker in the household.
Excessive drinking negatively impacts not just those who drink, but the drinkers themselves, and their partners and families 1,2. The secondhand harm of drinking is a multifactorial problem that is a physical and mental health burden shouldered by many: the drinker, partner, spouse, family and community, 3,4 making alcohol’s harm to others a significant health issue in terms of time, money and peace of mind 3.
This study’s objective 5 was to examine a range of indicators of alcohol’s harm to others (AHTO) among US adults and to assess sociodemographpic and alcohol-related characteristics, including the harmed individual’s own drinking and the presence of a heavy drinker in the household (HDHH).
An analysis of two surveys conducted in parallel [the 2915 national Alcohol’s Harm to Others Survey (NAHTOS; n= 2830) and the 2015 National Alcohol survey (NAS; n=7,071)] used computer-assisted telephone interview protocols to interview adults 18 and older from areas with at least a 40% Black/African American representation. Highlights of the data analysis, collected in both English and Spanish from April 2014 to June 2015, were as follows:
- The burden of others’ drinking is not experienced uniformly across sociodemographic groups. Young people are more likely to experience a broad range of secondhand effects of alcohol.
- Physical aggression harm from others’ drinking cuts across age groups but is especially relevant for individuals of Black or other (non-Hispanic) minority ethnicity; individuals who are separated, widowed, or divorced; or those who have a college education but no degree.
- Out of an estimated 53 million adults, 21% of women and 23% of men experience one type of harm from someone else’s drinking. The most common harm was threats or harassment, reported by 16% of respondents; although ruined property, vandalism, physical aggression, and harms related to financial or family problems also occurred.
- Gender differences were evident in certain types of harm; for example, women were more likely to report financial and family problems, whereas ruined property, vandalism, and physical aggression were more likely to be reported by men. Interestingly, unlike a previous study, poverty did not appear to be a risk factor 6.
- Additional gender differences were: women were more likely to report harm from a drinking spouse, partner/ex-partner (4.2% vs. 1.8%, χ2 [1] = 43.9, p < .001) or a family member (5.6% vs. 3.7%, χ2 [1] = 19.8, p < .01): men were more likely than women to report harm because of a stranger’s drinking (8.7% vs. 6.2%, χ2 [1] = 22.4, p < 0.01).
Nayak and team believe this study offers data vital for supporting the introduction of control policies such as alcohol pricing, taxation, reduced availability, and restricted advertising, which may be the most effective ways to reduce not only alcohol consumption but also alcohol’s harm to persons other than the drinker.
Source: Nayak, Madhabika B., Deidre Patterson, Sharon C. Wilsnack, Katherine J. Karriker-Jaffe, and Thomas K. Greenfield. “Alcohol’s secondhand harms in the United States: New data on prevalence and risk factors.” Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs 80, no. 3 (2019): 273-281.
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Posted August 21, 2019.
Joyce Smith, BS, is a degreed laboratory technologist. She received her bachelor of arts with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Biology from the University of Saskatchewan and her internship through the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She currently resides in Bloomingdale, IL.
References:
- Karriker-Jaffe KJ, Greenfield TK, Kaplan LM. Distress and alcohol-related harms from intimates, friends, and strangers. Journal of substance use. 2017;22(4):434-441.
- Karriker‐Jaffe KJ, Li L, Greenfield TK. Estimating mental health impacts of alcohol’s harms from other drinkers: using propensity scoring methods with national cross‐sectional data from the United States. Addiction. 2018;113(10):1826-1839.
- Laslett A-M, Rankin G, Waleewong O, et al. A multi-country study of harms to children because of others’ drinking. Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs. 2017;78(2):195-202.
- Greenfield TK, Karriker‐Jaffe KJ, Kerr WC, Ye Y, Kaplan LM. Those harmed by others’ drinking in the US population are more depressed and distressed. Drug and alcohol review. 2016;35(1):22-29.
- Nayak MB, Patterson D, Wilsnack SC, Karriker-Jaffe KJ, Greenfield TK. Alcohol’s secondhand harms in the United States: New data on prevalence and risk factors. Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs. 2019;80(3):273-281.
- Greenfield T, Ye Y, Kerr W, Bond J, Rehm J, Giesbrecht N. Externalities from alcohol consumption in the 2005 US National Alcohol Survey: implications for policy. International journal of environmental research and public health. 2009;6(12):3205-3224.
