How does other peoples’ drinking affect you?

Young people, women, single persons and people living in urban areas are more likely to experience harm from others’ drinking in the Nordic countries. These are some of the findings made by the research network H20 Nordic that was established by the Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues in 2013. In the new publication “The ripple effect of alcohol – Consequences beyond the drinker” we outline the key findings of the research network and provide perspectives on how drinking affects us as individuals and as a society.

The network utilised national population studies on drinking habits and experienced harm from the drinking of both persons known and unknown to the respondents. All the Nordic countries and Scotland were included in the studies.

Harm from known persons’ drinking

The comparison exploring negative consequences from the drinking of people known to the respondents, such as family, friends, ex-spouses or co-workers, found that up to a quarter of all respondents had experienced harm from others’ drinking.

- The Finnish and Icelandic respondents reported harm most frequently, while harm was reported least frequently by the Scots, project manager Nina Karlsson says.

The respondents were also asked to estimate the severity of the harm they had experienced.

- The Scottish respondents reported the most severe harm, while Finns and Danes estimated experienced harm as less severe. Such results raise questions about tolerance and how it affects people’s experiences of having been harmed by someone’s drinking, Karlsson says.

Harm from strangers’ drinking

The researchers, who explored harm from stranger’s drinking, compared five types of harm: physical harm, clothing or other belongings being ruined, experience of verbal abuse, fear of drunk persons in public places and being kept awake at night. Of the listed harms, being kept awake at night due to someone’s drinking was most commonly reported with reports varying between 15-33 percent. Experiences of physical harm were least reported in all countries with two to six percent reporting such harm.

- On a scale of harm, being kept awake at night and experiencing physical harm from a drunken person can be interpreted as polar opposites. Physical harm is a severe type of harm and can be expected to be considerably less reported than more general types of nuisance from others’ drinking. However, there seems to be considerable variation in how often both types of harm were reported in various countries. This raises, once more, questions about the role of sensitivity to harm and tolerance of harm in different drinking cultures and how such factors affect reports of experienced harm from others’ drinking, Karlsson points out.

The publication also includes preliminary results from a qualitative study that takes a deeper look at how tolerance affects experience of harm from other’s drinking. One of the key questions of the study is when and why is it or is it not problematic to drink in various social situations. The publication also discusses measuring harm in terms of money, and summarises international perspectives on alcohol’s harm to others.

The publication can be requested in printed format or it can be downloaded free of charge:

The ripple effect of alcohol – Consequences beyond the drinker

Further information:
Project manager Nina Karlsson, tel. +358 (0) 45 872 0270
E-mail: nina.karlsson(at)nordicwelfare.org