Alcohol consumption as a collective phenomenon – unpacking recent Australian trends
June 2015
Staff:
Dr Michael Livingston, NDARC
Other investigators:
Prof Tanya Chikritzhs, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University
Prof Robin Room, School of Population Health of the University of Melbourne
A/Prof Belinda Lloyd, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre
Prof Paul Dietze, Burnet Institute
Project description:
This project attempts to explain puzzling recent trends in alcohol consumption and harm in Australia. Measures of population drinking have been broadly stable over the past fifteen years, while many measures of alcohol-related harm have increased sharply. This represents either a failure of the key theory underpinning public health approaches to alcohol policy or a failure of data collection.
The study will use quantitative methods on a range of pre-existing data sources (including population surveys and administrative data from health and social agencies) to assess competing explanations for these diverging trends.
