Do New Zealand sexual minorities engage in more hazardous drinking than non‐sexual minorities?

Abstract

Introduction and Aims. Research has shown that sexual minorities (SMs) throughout the world display more alcohol use related problems than non-SMs. To date, however, this research has not been replicated in New Zealand. The aim of the current study is to determine whether SMs in New Zealand drink more hazardously than non-SMs. Design and Methods. Secondary data analyses were performed using data from the 2015/16 and 2016/17 New Zealand Health Survey. Results. Using a Bayesian logistic regression model we tested whether SM status predicted hazardous alcohol consumption. We found that SMs were 2.2 times (95% HDI [1.7-2.7]) more likely to drink hazardously than non-SMs, but this effect was largely driven by sexual minority women (SMW). Discussion and Conclusion. New Zealand SMs engaged in more hazardous drinking than non-SMs, an effect driven by SMW. A potential reason for these findings could be that, despite New Zealand's relative acceptance of SMs, structural/social discrimination may persist and have a disproportionate effect on women. More research is needed to determine what factors, such as stigma/discrimination, impact SMs' alcohol use in New Zealand.[Surace A, Riordan BC, Winter T. Do New Zealand sexual minorities engage in more hazardous drinking than non-sexual minorities?. Drug Alcohol Rev 2019;38:519-522]

Justifications for heavy alcohol use among gender and sexually diverse people

“…Various rights are protected by legislation, and same-sex marriage has been legal since 2013. Nevertheless, health and wellbeing inequities persist for gender and sexually diverse people (Health Promotion Agency, 2019b;Pihama et al, 2020;Surace et al, 2019;Tan et al, 2020).…”

“…In contrast to the robust international literature, little is known about drinking among gender and sexually diverse adults in New Zealand. The most recently published data is from a national survey of over 13,000 respondents, which identifies lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people as 2.2 times more likely than non-lesbian, gay and bisexual people to drink hazardously (AUDIT score of 8 or above) (Surace et al, 2019). This effect is driven by lesbian and bisexual women, who reported similar drinking patterns to males.…”

Enhancing the inclusion of gender and sexually diverse populations in evaluation: Reflections grounded in practice

“…In Australia and New Zealand, there is ample evidence to illustrate this. For example, gender and sexually diverse people are reported as having comparatively more problematic drinking behaviours than cisgender and heterosexual people (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020; Surace et al, 2019). They are also more likely to experience loneliness, depression, social anxiety, self-reported harm and suicide attempts (Bretherton et al, 2021;Eres et al, 2020;Tan et al, 2020).…”

A tutorial on the use of informative Bayesian priors for minority research

“…In our preliminary research, we have published evidence of the increased prevalence of hazardous drinking in the New Zealand SM population (Surace et al, 2019). Surace et al (2019) used the 2016 and 2017 NZHS, a nationally representative survey of approximately 10,000 individuals each year to investigate the increased risk of hazardous drinking among SMs. However, even when pooling two years of data, only 626 people identified as SMs (i.e., homosexual or bisexual).…”