Women bear the brunt of alcohol-related fear

Women are nearly three quarters more likely than men to experience fear because of other people’s alcohol consumption, University of Queensland research has found.

The study, which examined data from 21,097 adults, found the harm caused by alcohol was prevalent in Australia.

Dr Giang Vu, from UQ’s National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research (NCYSUR), said 18 per cent - or nearly one in 5 - reported being verbally abused by someone under the influence of alcohol in the past 12 months, while 5 per cent were physically abused, and 12 per cent reported feeling fearful.

“While there was little difference between the genders on the verbal or physical abuse data, we found women were 73 per cent more likely to be put in fear than men,” Dr Vu said.

“The pronounced gender disparity in fear suggests women are disproportionately affected by threat-based harms, which may include those occurring in intimate or domestic contexts.

“This highlights the importance of considering the influence of alcohol when developing family violence prevention strategies.”

The research, which used data taken from the 2022 to 2023 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, also found younger adults (aged 18–30) reported the highest rates of every harm — about a quarter (25 per cent) had experienced verbal abuse, one in five (20 per cent) had been placed in fear and 8 per cent had experienced physical abuse. 

“But after accounting for factors like marital status, socioeconomic circumstances and a person's own drinking, the gap between younger and older adults mostly disappeared for verbal and physical abuse,” Dr Vu said.

"The one thing that holds is fear: young people are still more likely than older adults to be put in fear by someone else's drinking.”  

Dr Vu said the key to reducing harm across the board could include taxing alcohol content, restrictions on trading hours and limits on alcohol marketing.

“Most alcohol research focuses on harm to the drinker, but there are many consequences that land on other people — partners, family, friends, and strangers,” Dr Vu said. 

“Existing Australian figures haven’t shown which groups are most affected by which kind of harm, and that's exactly what you need to know to target prevention and understand where the burden sits.”

The study was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care’s Drug and Alcohol Program.

Read the research published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.