Examining beverage‐specific trends in youth drinking in Australia before and after the implementation of the alcopops tax

Abstract

Introduction and Aims Alcohol consumption among young Australians has declined markedly since the early 2000s. As yet, there has been no data on how this decline has been spread across different beverages and instead high‐level survey data with significant potential for recall and other bias has been used. Trends in beverage choice among young people following an increase in the ‘alcopops’ tax have also not received much attention. Design and Methods Data on ‘yesterday’ drinking occasions were obtained from five waves (2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016) of the National Drug Strategy Household Survey. A total of 23 536 respondents aged 14–29 years were included in this study. Descriptive and regression analyses were conducted to explore trends in alcohol consumption and changes in beverage preferences. Results Youth drinking declined by 45% across the study period, with declines of 66% in premix, 48% in spirits, 46% in beer and 33% in wine. Consumption of premix was significantly lower in 2013 and 2016 compared to 2007 amongst the overall sample, males, females, respondents aged 14–21 and 22–29 years, light and heavy drinkers. Significant reductions were also observed in the consumption of premix immediately following the tax (2010) for the younger age group, males and light drinkers. Discussion and Conclusions Youth consumption of alcohol has declined during the study period with significant variation across beverage types. We found some evidence of a separate impact for the alcopops tax, although for some groups, declines in premix consumption occurred well after the implementation of the tax.

Declining drinking among adolescents: Are we seeing a denormalisation of drinking and a normalisation of non‐drinking?

“…Although there has been no attempt to systematically assess policy changes internationally, there are clear examples of policies in particular countries aiming to reduce the availability of alcohol to adolescents. These include raising the purchase age, secondary supply or social host liability laws, taxing of youth-oriented drinks, underage possession laws and strict enforcement of proof-of-age identification checks at point of sale [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. Although secondary supply laws have not shown evidence of driving reductions in adolescent drinking in Australia [62], they may have had an indirect effect with recent studies identifying a significant reduction in parental supply of alcohol to adolescents over the past 15 years [63,64].…”

Declines in alcohol consumption in Australia: some challenges to the theory of collectivity

“…Australia has seen some major policy shifts during the study period aiming at young people, including increased taxes on pre-mixed spirits (alcopops) and restrictions on secondary supply. However, studies have found that these policies were not critical in the large drinking declines seen since the early 2000s [35][36][37].…”

“…Australia has seen some major policy shifts during the study period aiming at young people, including increased taxes on pre‐mixed spirits (alcopops) and restrictions on secondary supply. However, studies have found that these policies were not critical in the large drinking declines seen since the early 2000s [35–37]. The increases in drinking observed for some older groups in Australia may reflect the ageing of heavier‐drinking cohorts [31], and again are partly reflected elsewhere [38].…”

Ready-to-drink beverage (RTD) consumption in Thai population: trend and associated factors

“…Furthermore, a multinational alcohol company has expected growth in the demand for alcoholic beverages in the Asia-Pacific region from an increasing number of middle-class consumers 23 . Data from a Thai major alcoholic beverage company shows that 5 out of their 10 RTD products have been introduced to the market after 2011 (during and after our study period), and 2 were introduced in 2009 (2 years before our study period) 24 . Marketing and promotion activities linked to the introduction of new RTD products may cause an increase in RTD consumption in Thailand.…”

“…Marketing and promotion activities linked to the introduction of new RTD products may cause an increase in RTD consumption in Thailand. Imposing taxes on RTDs could help cut its consumption 25 .…”