Abstract
Experimental studies support the conventional belief that people behave more aggressively whilst under the influence of alcohol. To examine how these experimental findings manifest in real life situations, this study uses a method for estimating evidence for causality with observational data—‘situational decomposition’ to examine the association between alcohol consumption and crime in young adults from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Self-report questionnaires were completed at age 24 years to assess typical alcohol consumption and frequency, participation in fighting, shoplifting and vandalism in the previous year, and whether these crimes were committed under the influence of alcohol. Situational decomposition compares the strength of two associations, (1) the total association between alcohol consumption and crime (sober or intoxicated) versus (2) the association between alcohol consumption and crime committed while sober. There was an association between typical alcohol consumption and total crime for fighting [OR (95% CI): 1.47 (1.29, 1.67)], shoplifting [OR (95% CI): 1.25 (1.12, 1.40)], and vandalism [OR (95% CI): 1.33 (1.12, 1.57)]. The associations for both fighting and shoplifting had a small causal component (with the association for sober crime slightly smaller than the association for total crime). However, the association for vandalism had a larger causal component.
Highlights
Drinking alcohol is a practice perceived as normal and integral to many social and cultural occasions throughout the world and across millennia [1,2]
Men and women differed on their frequency of alcohol consumption (p < 0.001); for example, 8% of men drank four or more times a week compared to 4% of women
We extend the previous studies using this method to examine the relationship between alcohol and crime by using a UK-based sample of young adults, and by examining both multiple types of alcohol consumption and multiple types of crime
Summary
Drinking alcohol is a practice perceived as normal and integral to many social and cultural occasions throughout the world and across millennia [1,2]. ‘Binge drinking’ among young adults in most countries is often perceived in contemporary youth culture as a ‘social lubricant’ due to its psychoactive effects of reducing anxiety and feeling good [2]. The legal status, ubiquity, and prevalence of the use of alcohol can often mean that the harm to health and damage to society is overlooked and discounted [3], even though the World Health Organization estimates that in 2018 the use of alcohol accounted for. An international survey of 63,725 of young people found that approximately 44% of respondents had suffered harm of an aggressive nature from others’ drinking at least once in the last year, with the highest prevalence in those aged 18 to 24 years [6]. Using data collected through the Alcohol Toolkit Survey in England, 20% of respondents reported experiencing alcohol-related harm from others in the last year, and 5% reported experiencing an aggressive harm (for example, being physically threatened, physically hurt or forced/pressured into something sexual by someone under the influence of alcohol) [5].
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