How financial difficulties interplay with expenditures on alcohol: Australian experience

Aim: This study aims to examine the relationship between alcohol expenditure and experience of financial difficulties. Subjects and methods: Using data from Australian Household Expenditure Survey 2009?10, associations between the proportion of household expenditure spent on alcohol and experience of financial difficulties in Australian households were estimated by logistic and linear regression models. Results: A positive association was found which suggests that the households that spent a higher percentage of total expenditure on alcohol were over 1.3 times more likely to experience financial difficulties than those households in the lowest alcohol expenditure quintile, while households which had no alcohol expenditure were also more likely to report financial problems compared with the lowest alcohol spending group. The determinants analysis in subcategories suggests that having experienced three or more types of financial difficulties in the last 12 months was related to higher levels of alcohol expenditure. The study also found that households living in rented dwellings and youngest age groups are likely to spend a greater proportion than others of their weekly spending on alcohol and more likely to experience financial difficulty. Conclusion: Alcohol expenditure makes up a significant proportion of household expenditure and strongly associates with household?s financial problems in Australia. Brief interventions to reduce hazardous drinking and policy controls on alcohol availability may mean that such drinkers experience fewer alcohol-related financial problems.