7th August, 2009

Almost three out of four Australians say they have been negatively affected by someone’s drinking in the past year, according to a report from the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation.

Seventy-three per cent of Australians surveyed for the report said they had been negatively impacted by someone else’s drinking in the past year, 14 per cent said they had been impacted “a lot” or across a range of relationships and five per cent said someone else’s drinking had been responsible for potential abuse or neglect of children for whom the respondent had some parental responsibility.

More than 2,600 people took part in the national survey. In other findings, 70 per cent said they had experienced unwanted noise or nuisance behaviour from drinkers they didn’t know, or had avoided drunk people. Forty-three per cent reported that they had suffered abuse, threats, damage or “worse” as a result of the drinking behaviour of strangers.

The survey also found that men outnumbered women by a factor of more than two to one in being the “affecting” drinker.

“A large proportion of Australians are adversely affected by someone’s drinking each year, with almost three quarters of adults surveyed reporting some kind of negative effect,” says Professor Robin Room, who authored the report, When Others Drink Too Much, along with colleagues. “However  young  adults,  and  particularly  young  women,  bear  most  of  the  brunt  of  other  people’s  drinking.”

- DAVID ADAMS

~ www.aerf.com.au