Over the limit? Testing non-linear associations between alcohol outlets and young adults' alcohol consumption

Understanding the association between neighbourhood socioeconomic status and grocery store alcohol sales following market liberalization in Ontario, Canada

OBJECTIVES

In 2015, Ontario partially deregulated alcohol sales by allowing grocery stores to sell alcohol. The purpose of this study was to evaluate (1) whether neighbourhood-level socioeconomic status (SES) impacted the likelihood that a grocery store began selling alcohol, and (2) whether increases in alcohol retail availability following deregulation differed between neighbourhoods based on SES.

METHODS

This was a repeated cross-sectional analysis of 1062 grocery stores in 17,096 neighbourhoods in urban Ontario. The association between neighbourhood-level SES and whether a grocery store began selling alcohol was modeled using mixed effect logistic regression. The annual change in drive-distance from a neighbourhood to the closest off-premise alcohol outlet between 2015 and 2020 was modeled using mixed effect linear regression. An interaction between time and SES was included to evaluate whether this change differed between neighbourhoods based on SES.

RESULTS

Grocery stores in neighbourhoods in the lowest SES quintile were 39% less likely to start selling alcohol than grocery stores in neighbourhoods in the highest SES quintile (odds ratio (OR): 0.61, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.39-0.94). As grocery store sales expanded, the distance to the closest off-premise alcohol outlet decreased by 51.8 m annually (95% CI: 48.8-54.9, p < 0.01). A significant interaction between year and SES was observed whereby this trend was more pronounced in high- versus low-SES neighbourhoods.

CONCLUSION

The expansion of grocery store alcohol sales increased alcohol availability, but this increase was proportionately larger in high- versus low-SES neighbourhoods. This reduced historic disparities in alcohol availability between low- and high-SES neighbourhoods.

Alcohol Consumption Patterns: A Systematic Review of Demographic and Sociocultural Influencing Factors

Background: Excessive alcohol consumption has negative effects not only on the drinkers’ health but also on others around them. Previous studies suggest that excessive alcohol consumption can be related to a combination of factors such as age, family background, religiosity, etc. Investigating and clarifying these roots of alcohol consumption is crucial so that the right type of interventions can be designed in a specific and targeted manner. Objectives: This work was conducted as a systematic review to reveal the factors associated with alcohol consumption and to heighten the understanding of the differences among various communities and segments of the population regarding their usage of alcohol. Data sources: A systematic search of Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar was performed. Results: Forty-five studies were included in the review after excluding irrelevant records and duplicates. Conclusions: Alcohol consumption patterns can be associated with several factors related to communities and individuals, and our review revealed demographic factors, including age and proximity to alcohol outlets, as well as social factors, including family background, socioeconomic background, and religious influence. These findings can be used to establish a guideline for further studies in understanding alcohol consumption patterns among individuals according to their personal characteristics and sociocultural backgrounds.