Journal article

Associations between alcohol outlet densities and adolescent alcohol consumption: A study in Australian students

B Rowland, JW Toumbourou, L Satyen, G Tooley, J Hall, M Livingston, J Williams

ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2014

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether the density of alcohol sales outlets in specific geographic communities is associated with adolescent alcohol consumption. METHOD: A cross-sectional representative sample of secondary school students from Victoria, Australia (N=10,143), aged between 12 and 17 years, self-reported on alcohol use in the last 30 days in 2009. The density of alcohol outlets per local community area was merged with this information. RESULTS: After controlling for risk factors, multilevel modelling (MLM) revealed a statistical interaction between age and density on alcohol consumption. While older adolescents had higher alcohol consumption, increases in the density of alcohol outlets w..

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Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

This study was partly funded by the Australian Research Council grant, Deakin Faculty Research Grant. Bosco Rowland was also supported by the Alfred Deakin Post-doctoral Fellowship. Michael Livingston was supported by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship and by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), an independent, charitable organisation working to prevent the harmful use of alcohol in Australia. The HowRU secondary student survey was funded by the Victorian State Government Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.