The effects of changes in the availability of alcohol on consumption, health and social problems
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Following a long period of relative stability, the liquor licensing regime in Victoria, Australia underwent two decades of dramatic liberalisation from the late 1980s.This liberalisation of policy resulted in a sharp expansion of the number of alcohol outlets in the state.Given the previous studies that have shown links between the density of alcohol outlets and rates of alcohol-related problems, it could be predicted that this expansion of outlet numbers would have contributed to increases in a range of alcohol-related problems.The empirical work of this thesis examines whether this is the case.Initial analyses of statelevel data find sharp increases in rates of a range of health and social problems related to alcohol during the period of industry expansion.However, there was no indication in any of the survey data available for Victoria that patterns of consumption had changed markedly over the same period.To test whether the harm trends were indicative of a relationship between outlet density and alcohol problems, a series of small-area spatial studies were undertaken.These studies used spatial statistical methods that deal with the potential problems of using spatial units to model data at the postcode level.These models assessed whether areas with higher densities of outlets experienced higher rates of harm and whether changes in local-level outlet densities were associated with changes in local-level rates of harm.Cross-sectional findings pointed to higher rates of heavy drinking among young adults and higher rates of violence in areas with higher densities of alcohol outlets.Longitudinally, the density of outlets was significantly and positively associated with rates of general assault, domestic violence, assault-related hospitalisations and alcohol-attributable disease rates.Importantly, different types of outlets were important depending on the types of harm examined and the types of neighbourhood focussed on.Broadly speaking, the density of general licence outlets (pubs/hotels) had the strongest association with assault rates, while packaged licence outlets (bottle shops) were more strongly associated with domestic violence and alcohol-attributable disease.These effects varied based on neighbourhood characteristics with, for example, general outlets most related to assault rates in the inner-city areas, while packaged liquor outlets were more associated with assaults in suburban parts of Melbourne.
Author: Michael Livingston
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2242078955