Does higher alcohol consumption affect attitudes towards alcohol control measures in Estonia?

Rainer Reile; Jürgen Rehm

doi:10.1016/j.puhip.2023.100455

Does higher alcohol consumption affect attitudes towards alcohol control measures in Estonia?

Public Health Pract (Oxf). 2023 Nov 22:7:100455. doi: 10.1016/j.puhip.2023.100455. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Rainer Reile¹, Jürgen Rehm^{2

3

4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia.
² Institute for Mental Health Policy Research & Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2S1, Canada.
³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 250 College Street, 8th floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1R8, Canada.
⁴ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1P8, Canada.
⁵ Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research (ZIS), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ Program on Substance Abuse, Public Health Agency of Catalonia, Program on Substance Abuse & WHO CC, 81-95 Roc Boronat St., 08005, Barcelona, Spain.

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze whether higher alcohol consumption is associated with negative attitudes towards stricter alcohol control policy measures in Estonia.

Study design: Cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative data from 2022 (n = 2059).

Methods: Attitudes towards seven alcohol control measures and their association with high-risk alcohol consumption (>140 g absolute alcohol for men and >70 g for women per week) were analyzed using used descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression using nationally representative data on Estonian 15-74-year-old population.

Results: In general, high-risk consumption associated with lower acceptance for alcohol control policies. Although men had higher prevalence of opposing alcohol control measure for every item considered, both men and women with high-risk alcohol consumption were significantly more likely to be against alcohol control measures in general even after accounting for the variation by demographic characteristics.

Conclusions: As public opinion is detrimental to the successful implementation of alcohol policies, these findings emphasize the need to communicate alcohol-related harms to the public in order to increase awareness and support for alcohol control policies.

Keywords: Alcohol consumption; Alcohol policy; Attitudes; Estonia.