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To prospectively investigate the alcohol consumption and health‐related behaviours of Australian police officers.

Demographic, work environment, general health and wellbeing, and alcohol consumption measures were obtained from 100 Australian police officers at two time points; the first as they underwent initial training before the commencement of operational policing duties (time 1), and the second after they had completed 12 months of operational duties (time 2).

Results indicated a significant increase in the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption over time. The number of female officers, but not male officers, who reported drinking at harmful levels increased between time periods. Overall, there were no changes in the number of officers who reported risk of harmful drinking or alcohol dependency. Alcohol consumption measure scores were not associated with age, marital status, education level, general health and wellbeing, or work‐environment variables. Smoking was associated with harmful drinking behaviour at time 1, but not at time 2. The number of officers who reported smoking increased significantly over time.

This paper builds on findings of previous studies by examining the within‐groups reported drinking behaviours of a sample of Australian police officers for changes over time associated with exposure to police work and the police environment.

Age at migration is commonly utilized as a proxy measure for assimilation in health behavior research. We reconsider this approach by examining the role of continued connection with places of origin on alcohol use, an important marker of health behavior and overall population health. Cross-border connections may buffer the association between earlier age at migration and alcohol use by providing an alternative channel of influence for behavioral norms. Alternatively, a stress and coping perspective on cross-border ties suggests potentially countervailing adverse impacts of these connections on alcohol use. We used data from the 2002/2003 National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS) (n = 1,641/1,630 Asian and Latino origin respondents, respectively). We first estimated the association between age at migration (child/adolescent versus adult migrant) and any past-year alcohol use. We subsequently tested the interaction between age at migration and two measures of cross-border connections. All models were stratified by region of origin and gender. For Latin American-origin women, cross-border ties were associated with increased risk of past-year alcohol use among those who migrated early in life. In contrast, Asian-origin men and women who migrated as adults and had contact with family and friends abroad had the lowest predicted probabilities of past-year alcohol use. The results among Asians support the idea that cross-border ties may be alternative influences on health behavior outcomes, particularly for adult migrants. Overall, we find qualified support for both transnational and assimilationist perspectives on alcohol use behaviors among US immigrants – as well as the interaction between these two frameworks. The joint influences of cross-border ties and age at migration were observed primarily for immigrant women, and not always in expected directions. We nevertheless urge future research to consider both US and country of origin influences on a wider range of health and health behavior outcomes for immigrants, as well as the potential intersection between US and cross-border connections.

The authors tested whether the effect of alcohol consumption during work hours on workplace aggression was influenced by the combined impact of individuals' job insecurity and love of the job.

The authors employed a time-lagged design whereby 325 working adults (166 men; 159 women) provided data at two time points. Respondents were asked to report their typical alcohol consumption volume in a workday, the extent to which they loved their job, and how insecure they felt about their job. Approximately one week later, respondents completed a workplace aggression measure.

A substantial positive relationship was observed between the volume of alcohol consumed during work hours and the likelihood of aggressive acts. Beyond this preliminary finding, the authors found evidence for a three-way interaction. It appears that the fear of losing a beloved job creates a condition under which the drinking-aggression relationship is particularly strong.

Besides formal rules deterring alcohol consumption during work hours, managers may look to implement measures that nurture a sense of job love and job security, which can be beneficial in preventing aggression resulting from drinking in the workplace.

By examining alcohol consumption during a typical workday, the study captures the contextual and proximal effects of drinking, which are often not observed in workplace-focused studies that operationalize alcohol consumption in general terms. The findings also suggest that if employees who drink during work hours are afraid of losing the job they love, a particularly stressful situation is created in which workplace aggression is more likely to happen.

The purpose of this chapter is to empirically estimate the propensity for alcohol-related policies to influence rates of child abuse. Child maltreatment is measured by the number of abused children and the number of child fatalities due to abuse. The alcohol regulations of interest include beer, wine, and liquor taxes and prices, drunk driving laws, and measures of alcohol availability. Results indicate that higher excise taxes on alcohol and reductions in availability may be effective in reducing the incidence of child maltreatment.

PRIME for Life is an alcohol risk reduction program that has been used and refined in the USA for over 20 years. A Swedish version of the program has recently been adapted for use among Swedish high‐school students (age 18‐19). The objective of the study is to evaluate the effects of the program on youth alcohol consumption (including high risk drinking), attitudes and knowledge about the effects of alcohol use.

The authors conducted a randomised controlled trial involving 23 schools and 926 students. Data collection was conducted with questionnaires focusing primarily on drinking behaviour. Participants were followed up at five and 20 months to assess changes in drinking behaviour, knowledge and attitudes towards alcohol.

No significant program effects on drinking behaviour were found. Knowledge about the effects of alcohol consumption on health increased after the intervention, as did negative attitudes towards alcohol, but these effects eroded over time.

Despite being widely used in the USA and Sweden, the impact of PRIME for Life is under‐reported in the literature. This is the first independent evaluation of the program focusing on high school age youth. The findings do not support the efficacy of the program as a risk reduction or behaviour change tool in a school environment.

The purpose of this paper is to review the substance misuse literature on how outcome expectancies are measured, how they are related with the level of use and other factors as well as their role into treatment and recovery.

A narrative review of the literature for all major substances of abuse was undertaken.

Existing measurement tools are substance specific. Most research has been in the field of alcohol, and involved students or light and moderate drinkers. Positive expectancies have been found to be related to initiation and level of alcohol, nicotine and cannabis use and also to be modifiable with repeated cue exposure. Negative expectancies have been found to be associated with prevention of smoking, positive changes in drinking and positive effect on treatment outcome for alcohol.

Both positive and negative outcome expectancies have been found to predict development of substance misuse and recovery from it respectively, but cross-substance comparisons are hindered by lack of appropriate measures.

The concept of outcome expectancies is present in several theories of addiction. To date there has been no comprehensive review of the extent to which different types of expectancy play a role in different substances and their treatment.

Previous research indicates that Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) can play an effective role in alcohol use disorder recovery (Kelly, Stout, Magill, Tonigan and Pagano, 2011). Acceptance of a “Higher Power” and experiencing a “spiritual awakening” are essential components of AA recovery programme (Alcoholics Anonymous World Service, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to identify if there are high associations in levels of spirituality and alcohol abstinence self-efficacy (AASE) measures amongst AA members.

Self-reported measures were collected from members of AA of their spiritual and religious beliefs and their everyday experiences of alcohol abstinence. Demographic information of participant’s ethnical background, age and length of AA membership was also obtained.

The analysis revealed high levels of spirituality amongst participants with a mean of 70.14 (2dp). There was no difference in participant high or low spiritual beliefs and their attitude towards alcohol abstinence. The frequency measures of spiritual activities showed that 73.7 per cent of participants engage in private spiritual or religious activities more than once a week.

Overall the study supports previously conduced researches in the field of spirituality and AASE amongst AA members when considering other variables associated with sustained sobriety. The implications of the results of this study are discussed and suggestions have been made for further investigation.

Previous research have shown that individuals with high trait impulsivity are at high risk of engaging in problem alcohol use and that drinking motives differentially predicted alcohol use and problems. This study aimed to investigate whether these previously shown associations still existed during the global outbreak of the pandemic, COVID-19, which resulted in a long period of lockdown and raised concerns about the effects of alcohol.

The data was collected from 185 adults between ages of 18 and 35 during the lockdown period (November 20–May 21) through an online survey. Participants completed an impulsivity questionnaire, drinking motives and alcohol use measures.

The results revealed that enhancement and coping motives mediated the effects of positive and negative urgency, respectively, and lack of premeditation facet of impulsivity was directly linked to alcohol use. These findings are partially in line with the previous studies before the lockdown.

Overall, individuals with particularly high urgency and premeditation maybe at high risk for problem alcohol use and may require tailored support for regulating emotions, particularly during stressful life events such as a global pandemic.

Findings may inform prevention and intervention strategies. Individuals with high trait urgency may benefit from more adaptive coping strategies such as learning specific emotion regulation strategies to minimise engaging in risk behaviours in stressful situations.

Findings suggest that traits positive and negative urgency are risk factors for alcohol use through enhancement and coping motives respectively, and these associations are particularly strong during stressful life events.