Introduction and Aims
Risky alcohol consumption is linked to poor health and criminal justice outcomes. This study aims to assess the prevalence and correlates of risky drinking in a sample of recently incarcerated Australians.
Design and Methods
Consecutive cross‐sectional data were collected from prisoners residing in 19 correctional facilities in six Australian states and territories as part of the National Prison Entrants' Bloodborne Virus and Risk Behaviour Survey Report. The sample consisted of 389 prisoners (339 men, 50 women). Risky alcohol consumption was estimated using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test‐Condensed questionnaire, with a cut‐off score of ≥6. Potential correlates of risky alcohol consumption were assessed utilising univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results
Over one‐third (34.5%) of prisoners who were screened met the criteria for risky alcohol consumption. The five factors found to be independently and positively associated with risky alcohol consumption were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) status, incarceration in prison in the Northern Territory, heavy tobacco use, cannabis use and abstinence from drugs in the 4 weeks prior to incarceration. Additionally, risky alcohol consumption was associated with current or past hepatitis B or hepatitis C infection.
Discussion and Conclusions
The findings highlight that risky alcohol consumption is common among prisoners across Australia. This is known to be associated with adverse health outcomes and re‐offending, suggesting a need for alcohol interventions targeting prisoners.
While 3-month-old infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatto) were awake and active in social interactions away from their mothers, body and nipple contacts with their mothers were nevertheless made from time to time. In each dyad the proportions of contacts made by the mother nearly equalled those broken by her, suggesting a meshed interaction in which each partner accepted most of the other’s contact initiations and terminations. Passive prevention of nipple contact by a mother reduced the frequency of nipple contact by her infant in the first 5 s after the infant had made body contact. Passive prevention occurred after fewer than 1 in 6 body contacts initiated by infants, and – even without its occurrence – most infants were less ready to take the nipple after their own initiatives than after maternal initiatives. Once nipple contact had been made, the probability of breaking body contact was reduced. The role of maternal rejection both in the control of nipple contact in the short term and in determining (through its effect on the sucking pattern) whether the mother gives birth in the next birth season or later is discussed. We suggest that, by the age of 3 months, the infants had already learned when and how often nipple contact with their mothers would be acceptable during their awake and active periods, and we suggest that subsequent decreases in the frequency of nipple contact were partly the results of maternal rejections which were accepted by the infants.
More than half of the criminal convictions were associated with a relatively small number of risk factors, including poor mental health, low socioeconomic status, and TBI as well as certain maternal characteristics.
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