title: Individual and household-level socioeconomic position is associated with harmful alcohol consumption behaviours among adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine associations between individual-, household- and neighbourhood-level socioeconomic position (SEP) and harmful alcohol consumption.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adults aged 18-76 residing in 50 neighbourhoods in Melbourne completed a postal questionnaire (n= 2349, 58.7% response rate). Alcohol-related behaviours were classified by risk of short- and long-term harm. Individual-, household- and neighbourhood-level SEP were ascertained by education, household income and proportion of low-income households, respectively. The association were examined by multi-level logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants lower education or household income were less likely to consume alcohol frequently compared to their more-advantaged counterparts. Lower-educated men were more likely to be at risk of short-term harm [OR 1.75 (1.23 - 2.48)]. Low-income women were less likely to be at risk of short-term harm [OR 0.44 (0.23 - 0.81)]. Neighbourhood disadvantage was not associated with alcohol consumption.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Men and women from socioeconomically advantaged backgrounds were more frequent consumers of alcohol, whereas their disadvantaged counterparts drank less frequently but in greater quantities on each drinking occasion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Socioeconomic disadvantage at the individual and household levels may be an important determinant of alcohol consumption among Australian adults.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation/School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. K.giskes@qut.edu.au
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Giskes
authors.forename: Gavin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Turrell
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bentley
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kavanagh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics; D001315:Australia; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult