Public attitudes towards alcohol control policies in Scotland and England: Results from a mixed-methods study.
The harmful effects of heavy drinking on health have been widely reported, yet public opinion on governmental responsibility for alcohol control remains divided. This study examines UK public attitudes towards alcohol policies, identifies underlying dimensions that inform these, and relationships with perceived effectiveness. A cross-sectional mixed methods study involving a telephone survey of 3477 adult drinkers aged 16-65 and sixteen focus groups with 89 adult drinkers in Scotland and England was conducted between September 2012 and February 2013. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to reduce twelve policy statements into underlying dimensions. These dimensions were used in linear regression models examining alcohol policy support by demographics, drinking behaviour and perceptions of UK drinking and government responsibility. Findings were supplemented with a thematic analysis of focus group transcripts. A majority of survey respondents supported all alcohol policies, although the level of support varied by type of policy. Greater enforcement of laws on under-age sales and more police patrolling the streets were strongly supported while support for pricing policies and restricting access to alcohol was more divided. PCA identified four main dimensions underlying support on policies: alcohol availability, provision of health information and treatment services, alcohol pricing, and greater law enforcement. Being female, older, a moderate drinker, and holding a belief that government should do more to reduce alcohol harms were associated with higher support on all policy dimensions. Focus group data revealed findings from the survey may have presented an overly positive level of support on all policies due to differences in perceived policy effectiveness. Perceived effectiveness can help inform underlying patterns of policy support and should be considered in conjunction with standard measures of support in future research on alcohol control policies.
School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. Electronic address: jessica.li@sheffield.ac.uk.
Jessica
J
Li
School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom; Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stirling, United Kingdom.
Melanie
M
Lovatt
Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling, United Kingdom.
Douglas
D
Eadie
Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling, United Kingdom.
Fiona
F
Dobbie
School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.
Petra
P
Meier
School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.
John
J
Holmes
Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling, United Kingdom.
Gerard
G
Hastings
Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling, United Kingdom.
Anne Marie
AM
MacKintosh
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011639:Public Opinion; D012606:Scotland; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Alcohol; Alcohol policy; Alcohol policy attitudes; Mixed-methods; Telephone survey; UK