3.0 Results

CCI Research was contracted to obtain 300 completed surveys. It was necessary for them to make 1445 phone calls in order to secure 300 responses, resulting in a 21% response rate. The disposition of the calls is presented in Table 1.

Males less than 29 years of age were under represented in the sample and males 70 or older were over represented. (Table 2) Similarly, females were under represented in the less than 30 age group; however, females in the middle to older age categories (40 to 49 years, 50 to 59 years, 60 to 69 years) were over represented.

According to the Canadian Community Health Survey¹¹ more males and females in the age group 19 to 29 years drink above the low risk drinking guidelines than any other age group. It follows that this group's opinion of community alcohol use and alcohol policy might differ significantly from other age groups. Therefore, we did not want to combine this group with older respondents as the findings may be distorted. There were too few respondents in the youngest age category to analyze on their own (8 males and 21 females); therefore, these respondents were removed from any further analysis.

Two other considerations influenced the data analysis. First, there were almost twice as many female respondents as males. So as not to present biased results all findings are presented separately for men and women. Second, age groups have been collapsed into two groups (30 to 59 year olds and 60 years and older) to achieve adequate numbers in each group for statistical analysis.

The distribution of survey respondents was compared to the City of Kingston population for age, sex, and deprivation index. (Table 3) The distribution of survey males by age group differed significantly from the Kingston population whereas females were more similar in their distribution to the Kingston population. Distribution of survey respondents was similar to the Kingston population by material and social deprivation indices and the combined Deprivation Index.

In summary, 29 respondents who were less than 30 years old were eliminated from the analysis. The remaining sample of 271 respondents was divided into male and female groups and analyzed separately. The age categories were collapsed to a dichotomous variable (i.e. 30 to 59 years old and 60 years and older). All dependent variables were analyzed to detect any relationship with each of the independent variables (age and material and social deprivation). Income and education were not used as independent variables as the material and social deprivation indices provide a similar measure.

*Chi-square goodness of fit tests whether the survey proportion differs from the population proportion

*Chi-square goodness of fit tests whether the survey proportion differs from the population proportion

*Chi-square goodness of fit tests whether the survey proportion differs from the population proportion

*Chi-square goodness of fit tests whether the survey proportion differs from the population proportion

Respondents' opinion of the reasons people use alcohol

Almost all respondents thought 'for entertainment' and 'to be sociable' were common or very common reasons for people to drink alcohol (Figure 1). The next reason thought to be common for both men and women was 'to relax', with 92 and 90 percent, respectively, indicating it is a common or very common reason.

Opinions on how common it is for people to drink differed between men and women on three reasons: 'to see what it is like', 'low self-esteem', and 'peer pressure'. Almost 60% of women thought 'to see what it is like' was a common reason for people to drink, where as only 42% of men thought this to be a common reason. More women than men thought 'because of low self-esteem' (76%) and 'peer pressure' (87%) were common reasons to drink alcohol.

Figure 1 Q: How common or uncommon do you think each of the following is as a reason for people to drink alcohol?

*Statistically significant differences between men and women.

A respondent's level on the deprivation indices did not appear to influence how common or uncommon they thought a reason was for someone to drink. This was true for both male and female respondents.

Respondents' perception of factors that can contribute to community alcohol problems

Both men and women respondents thought 'alcohol is easy to get' and 'there is excessive drinking' were common or very common situations in Kingston that could contribute to alcohol problems (Figure 2). There was a significant difference between men and women's opinions on 'there is unemployment and low wages'; 76% of female respondents thought this was a common or very common situation in Kingston compared to 63% of male respondents.

Figure 2 Q: How common or uncommon is each situation in Kingston?

*Statistically significant difference between men and women

**20% of respondents answered "Don't Know" to 'There is not enough police enforcement'

In female respondents, there was a significant difference between younger and older age groups in their opinion of whether 'there are not enough treatment facilities or services' is a common or uncommon situation (Table 5). The older age group (60 years and older) was much more likely to think this was a common situation, whereas the younger group was almost evenly split between thinking it was common versus uncommon. There were no differences by age group for male respondents.

When looking only at males, material deprivation was significantly related to the opinion 'there is unemployment or low wages' as a common or uncommon situation. Those less financially deprived were more likely to think this situation was uncommon, whereas those in the most deprived quintile were more likely to think 'unemployment and low wages' was a common situation in Kingston that could contribute to alcohol-related problems. In female respondents, there was a significant relationship with the situation 'there is little to do'. The less financially deprived groups were more likely to identify 'there is little to do' as a situational problem contributing to alcohol problems in Kingston.

Respondents' perception of the extent of alcohol-related issues in Kingston

When respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which each of fifteen alcohol-related outcomes is an issue in Kingston, both male and female respondents indicated the same four as 'very much an issue' or 'a moderate issue'. These were verbal abuse, vehicle crashes, violence, and family physical or mental abuse (Figure 3 and 4). While Figures 3 and 4 show the percent of respondents who answered 'very much an issue' or 'moderate issue', these same four conditions had the highest percent of respondents selecting 'very much an issue' (Table 6). Table 6 shows the other conditions where one quarter or more of respondents thought the issue was 'very much an issue'.

A few of the outcomes had a high percentage of respondents who selected 'Don't know'. For both men and women these were suicide, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and alcohol poisoning. Men also had a high percentage of 'Don't know' responses for chronic disease.

Figure 3: Female Respondents Q: how much of an issue is each outcome in Kingston?

*Statistically significant difference between men and women

Figure 4: Male Respondents Q: How much of an issue is each outcome in Kingston?

*Statistically significant difference between men and women

Age played a role in the perceptions of the extent of two alcohol-related outcomes in the Kingston community - vehicle crashes and noise disturbances. Older women (60 and older), more than younger women (30 to 59 years old), thought vehicle crashes were moderate to very much an issue (Figure 5). This significant difference was not seen in male respondents.

Figure 5: Differences by age and sex for alcohol-related noise disturbances

Younger men were more likely than older men to think alcohol related noise disturbances were a moderate or very much an issue (Figure 6). There was no difference by age in female respondents.

Figure 6: Age Group differences by Sex for Alcohol-related Vehicle Crashes

For males, there was an association between levels of material deprivation and whether noise disturbances were thought to be an issue in the Kingston community. The least deprived quintile was more likely to think noise disturbances were a slight issue, whereas the other quintiles assessed noise disturbances as a moderate or very much an issue. There were no other associations between issues and material or social deprivation for females.

Respondents'experience with second-hand effects of alcohol use

The most common experience for both male and female respondents was a problem in their neighbourhood due to someone else's drinking. Second to that for men was to have been verbally abused by someone who had been drinking (18%). Second for women was to have experienced family problems or marriage difficulties in the past 12 months. Women (16%) were more likely to have had this experience than men (7%).

Figure 7: Respondents who reported experiencing the situation in the past 12 months

The younger age group of females was more likely than older females to indicate they had experienced problems in their neighbourhood as a result of someone else's drinking. Younger or older respondents were no more likely to indicate they had had any other experiences.

There was one association between material deprivation and experience with someone who had been drinking. Males in the least deprived quintile were most likely to say 'no, they had not experienced problems in their neighbourhood'. Males in the more deprived 4th and 5th quintiles were evenly split with half saying 'yes, they had the experience' and half replying 'no'. Women had a similar pattern of  response to 'Have you experienced problems in your neighbourhood as a result of others' drinking?' by the social deprivation index. In both groups, the most socially connected were likely to say 'no' and the more socially deprived more likely to say 'yes' to having the experience.

Figure 8 displays the percent of respondents who agreed with suggested community actions and policies. The actions most supported by both men and women were:

• Increase efforts by licensed establishments to prevent serving drunken customers,
• Require bar training for establishments to obtain a liquor license,
• Include health warning labels on liquor products, and
• Increase enforcement by police and inspectors.

There were a number of actions and policies on which men and women did not agree and a statistically significant difference was detected. These included:

• Energy drinks premixed with alcohol should not be sold,
• A special permit should be required in order to buy a beer keg,
• Alcoholic beverages should be available in corner stores,
• Price of alcohol should be based on its alcohol content, and
• Cheap drink promotions should be discouraged in local bars.

Of particular interest, 77% of women in this sample disagreed that alcohol should be sold in corner stores, while only about half of men (56%) disagreed with this. As well, 63% of women thought the price of alcohol should be based on its alcohol content but the same proportion of men (60%) disagreed with this.

There was an association between age and a few of the community actions. In male respondents, the group aged 30 to 59 were more likely to disagree with "the price of alcohol should be based on its alcohol content", whereas the older group (aged 60+ years) were more evenly split with 54% agreeing and 46% disagreeing. The respondents in the younger male group were also more likely to disagree with: "Cheap drink promotions should be discouraged in local bars." while older respondents were more likely to agree. Among females, those 60 years and older were more likely to agree with "the price of alcohol should be based on its alcohol content" (72%), while in the younger group only 57% agreed.

All policy suggestions and community actions were checked for an association with Material Deprivation and Social Deprivation. No associations were detected in either the male or female group of respondents for either index.

Figure 8: Respondents' support for community actions or policies

Both men and women would support the Ontario government establishing stricter advertising standards for alcohol. More women were supportive than men, 82% and 61%, respectively. There was no association between support for stricter standards and age, or either deprivation index.

There was low awareness of Kingston's municipal alcohol policy; 46% of female respondents and 38% of males indicated they were aware. The younger group of males (30 to 59 years old) was evenly split in awareness, 51% were aware of the policy. Seventy-seven percent of older males said they were not aware of the policy. The least socially deprived were more aware of the policy than any other of the index quintiles.

Most respondents supported current beer and liquor store hours (Table 7). Slightly more female than male respondents thought hours for bars and restaurants should be decreased. There were no

associations detected in the female group between age, or either deprivation index and whether hours should change. However, just over half of the most financially deprived male group indicated that beer and liquor store hours should be decreased.