Citation

Karriker-Jaffe KJ, Greenfield TK, Kaplan LM. J. Subst. Use 2017; 22(4): 434-441.

Affiliation

Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute, Emeryville, CA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa Healthcare)

DOI

10.1080/14659891.2016.1232761

PMID

28757806

PMCID

PMC5530071

Abstract

Alcohol's harms to others (AHTO) has gained increased research and policy attention, yet little information is available on different social relationships involved in such harms or consequences of harms perpetrated by various types of drinkers. Using data from the 2014-15 U.S. National Alcohol Survey (N=5,922), we present analyses comparing frequency and impacts of eight past-year harms from other drinkers. In this sample (53% female; 66% White/Caucasian, 13% Black/African American, and 15% other race; 15% Hispanic/Latino of any race; mean age=47 years), 19% reported at least one harm in the prior 12 months, 8% reported more than one harm, 4.9% reported a family perpetrator, 3.5% a spouse perpetrator, 6.1% a friend perpetrator, and 8.1% a stranger perpetrator. Controlling for basic demographics, the number of harms in the past year and harms perpetrated by known others (but not strangers) were significantly associated with recent distress. When comparing specific harms, financial problems due to a family member's or a spouse/partner's drinking each were associated with significantly greater distress, as were feeling threatened or afraid of family members, spouses/partners or friends who had been drinking. These new data shed light on possible intervention points to reduce negative impacts of AHTO in the U.S.

Language: en

Keywords

alcohol’s harms to others; family; mental health; population survey; social relationships