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healthysoch
New Delhi, July 05, 2019 :
Alcohol’s harm to others is a significant public health issue. One in five adults i.e. an estimated 53 million women and men experienced at least one harm because of someone else’s drinking, according to a study published June 30, 2019 in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
- Women were more likely to report harm due to drinking by a spouse/partner or family member, whereas men were more likely to report harm due to a stranger’s drinking.
- Being female also predicted family/financial harms.
- Younger age increased risk for all alcohol’s harm to others (AHTO) types, except physical aggression.
- Being of Black/other ethnicity, being separated/widowed/divorced, and having a college education without a degree each predicted physical aggression harm.
- The harmed individual’s own heavy drinking and having a heavy drinker in the household increased risk for all AHTO types.
- The risk for physical aggression due to someone else’s drinking was particularly elevated for heavy drinking women.
The study concluded that the secondhand effects of alcohol in the United States are substantial and affected by sociodemographics, the harmed individual’s own drinking, and the presence of a heavy drinker in the household.
