70,000 Australians are reported victims of alcohol related assaults every year
24,000 women are victims of alcohol related domestic violence assaults
20,000 children are victims of alcohol-related child abuse

The Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation (AER Foundation) recently commissioned a new report The Range and Magnitude of Alcohol’s Harm to Others, which has just been published.

The AER is a unique, independent, not-for-profit organisation with a goal to change the way we drink.

The Range and Magnitude of Alcohol’s Harm to Others report was carried out by the AER Centre for Alcohol Policy Research in Melbourne. It offers an insight into how individual acts of alcohol misuse affect both families and communities.

Young Australians bear the brunt of the negative effects of drinking by others, with young women suffering the most when a person they were in a relationship with misused alcohol.

According to The Range and Magnitude of Alcohol’s Harm to Others report, young people aged 18-29 years were three times more likely to be affected by the drinking of someone they knew compared with older people and they were also twice as likely to be affected by strangers.

AER Foundation Director Professor Ian Webster said: “We often talk about young people as being part of the problem when it comes to alcohol-related harms. But we now know that they are one of the most vulnerable groups in our community when it comes to the impact of others’ drinking.”

He added “Much more needs to be done to support our young people, particularly young women, to prevent them from being negatively affected by our current problematic drinking culture.”

As part of the report, the Alcohol’s Harm to Others survey* also found that young people aged 18-29 years were more likely to experience harm from the drinking of strangers by:
• Being forced or pressured into sexual activity
• Being physically abused
• Encountering trouble or noise related to a licensed venue
• Having to avoid places where drinkers are known to hang out
• Being involved in a traffic accident
• Being verbally abused and threatened
• Getting into a serious argument
• Feeling unsafe in a public place and public transport
• Having their property or personal belongings damaged

Nearly 75% of both men and women aged 18-29 years who had been negatively affected in the last year by the drinking of a family member or friend said they also had to spend time looking after that person as a result of their drinking (cleaning up after them, driving them somewhere, caring for them or their children).

The survey found that 46% of young women who lived with a drinker would need to care for that person as a result of their drinking habits. They were also likely to experience verbal abuse from that person, which could also lead to cases of domestic violence.

The 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that younger men were more likely than women to experience verbal and physical abuse, while both younger and older women were more likely to be put in fear by someone affected by alcohol.

“We need to be asking what we can do to ensure that the whole community is protected from these harms. Now more than ever alcohol policy development is supported by a sound evidence base that shows which strategies are effective in reducing alcohol-related harms.” said Professor Webster.

He concluded “Significant policy reform is required in alcohol taxation, advertising and sponsorship restrictions, and limiting the availability of alcohol to protect young people.”

The report found the hidden cost of harms caused by someone else’s drinking brings the total economic impact of alcohol misuse in Australia to $36 billion annually, more than double previous estimates.

*Alcohol’s Harm to Others is a national survey completed in 2008 of more than 2,600 Australians aged 18 years or older conducted by Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha
Source: Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation Foundation