Light and heavy drinking in jurisdictions with different alcohol policy environments

Abstract

BACKGROUND A basic, yet untested tenet underlying alcohol control policies is that they should affect both light and heavy drinking, thereby shifting the entire population in a favourable direction. The aim of this study was to test this assumption in young Swiss men. METHODS Cross-sectional self-reported data-from 5755 young Swiss men participating in the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF), a large cohort study on young men living within 21 jurisdictions across Switzerland-were analysed via nested logistic regression. With this approach, a set of increasingly-heavy drinking patterns was broken down into a set of nested regression models, each one estimating the probability of heavier drinking, conditional on the lighter drinking pattern. Drinking patterns relating to heavy episodic drinking (HED), heavy volume drinking (HVD) on weekends, and workweek drinking, as well as alcohol use disorder (AUD) were examined. The explanatory variable was a previously-used alcohol policy environment index (APEI) reflecting the number of alcohol control policies implemented in each jurisdiction. Conventional and multilevel logistic regression models were tested, adjusted for age, education, linguistic region, urban/rural status, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, sensation seeking, antisocial personality disorder, and unobserved heterogeneity between jurisdictions. RESULTS For HED, weekend HVD, and AUD, negative relationships with the APEI were found, such that with a higher APEI the probability of lighter drinking patterns was increased while the probability of heavier patterns was reduced, including a reduced probability of the heaviest patterns. These relationships were non-linear, however, and tapered off towards the heavy end of the drinking spectrum. No relationship was identified between the APEI and workweek drinking patterns. CONCLUSION Among young Swiss men, stricter alcohol policy environments were associated with a global shift towards lighter drinking, consistent with the basic tenet behind the universal prevention approach.

Improving Knowledge that Alcohol Can Cause Cancer is Associated with Consumer Support for Alcohol Policies: Findings from a Real-World Alcohol Labelling Study

“…Studies have indicated that alcohol control policies have a protective effect against alcohol use and related harm [18,19]. Indeed, stricter alcohol policy environments can gradually shift a population towards lighter alcohol use [18] and are also associated with lower secondhand effects of alcohol [20].…”

“…Studies have indicated that alcohol control policies have a protective effect against alcohol use and related harm [18,19]. Indeed, stricter alcohol policy environments can gradually shift a population towards lighter alcohol use [18] and are also associated with lower secondhand effects of alcohol [20]. While a large robust evidence base consistently suggests that restricting the availability and marketing and regulating the price of alcohol are the most cost-effective and easy-to-implement measures for reducing population-level alcohol consumption and harms [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], these policies often endure strong opposition from sections of the public and hence also some policy-makers [31][32][33].…”

Multiple trajectories of alcohol use and the development of alcohol use disorder: Do Swiss men mature-out of problematic alcohol use during emerging adulthood?

“…Consistently, no difference in prevalence of LLCA classes was found between the French and German speaking parts of Switzerland (data not shown). However the absence of difference in prevalence between French and German speaking parts of Switzerland does not rule out the existence of subtle cultural differences between linguistic and cantonal regions but will require further in-depth analyses including for example the cantonal legislation on drinking " [69,70]" as well as outlet density " [71]".…”

Effective alcohol policies are associated with reduced consumption among demographic groups who drink heavily

“…Studies which have examined either alcohol policy indices or a range of policies in relation to drinking patterns have typically focused on specific sectors of the population: adolescents (Paschall et al, 2009 ), young males (Foster et al, 2019 ) mid to older age groups (Sandoval et al, 2019 ). Cross‐sectional analysis in HICs has found heavier drinking associated with less restrictive policy in young males (Foster et al, 2019 ) and more frequent drinking among adolescents was associated with less restrictive policy (Paschall et al, 2009 ).…”

“…Studies which have examined either alcohol policy indices or a range of policies in relation to drinking patterns have typically focused on specific sectors of the population: adolescents (Paschall et al, 2009 ), young males (Foster et al, 2019 ) mid to older age groups (Sandoval et al, 2019 ). Cross‐sectional analysis in HICs has found heavier drinking associated with less restrictive policy in young males (Foster et al, 2019 ) and more frequent drinking among adolescents was associated with less restrictive policy (Paschall et al, 2009 ). Longitudinal analysis of adolescent drinking in 33 largely HIC and regions over 12 years found a combination of alcohol control policies was more effective in reducing adolescent drinking outcomes than single policy measures.…”