Negative consequences of other people's drinking: Prevalence, perpetrators and locations

While both policy makers and researchers have shown renewed interest in drinking and harm to others, several questions concerning the issue remain unanswered. The aim of this study was to address some of these questions by: (i) presenting updated figures on the prevalence of experienced harm from other people's drinking in various sub-groups; and (ii) examining in which locations such episodes most often occur and who the perpetrators usually are.

Data were obtained from a general population survey among 16- to 79-year-old Norwegians (n = 1947), where experiences of five negative consequences related to other people's drinking (e.g. physical abuse and verbal abuse) were assessed. Those who reported such experiences were asked to specify at which location the last episode occurred and who the perpetrator was.

Altogether, 17.3% had experienced one or more problems during the past 12 months. Persons who were young, not living with a partner, an urban resident, with low education and often intoxicated were at increased risk. The direction of statistically significant gender differences depended on the type of problem. While the episodes were spread across different locations (private homes, on-premise outlets and outdoors), perpetrators were more often strangers or friends/acquaintances than partners or family members.

In a preventive perspective, increased knowledge regarding the context of episodes where people experience harm from other people's drinking is important. We have shed some light on this issue by examining the locations and perpetrators of such episodes. [Storvoll EE, Moan IS, Lund IO. Negative consequences of other people's drinking: Prevalence, perpetrators and locations. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:755-762].