A grouped data regression approach to estimating economic and social influences on individual drinking behaviour
✍ Scribed by Matthew Sutton; Christine Godfrey
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1995
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 883 KB
- Volume
- 4
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1057-9230
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
General Household Survey (GHS) data sets, covering the period 1978-1990, are pooled to investigate the relationship between the riskiness of individuals' self-reported drinking behaviour and a wide range of personal characteristics and economic factors. A grouped data regression approach is used to reduce problems with the inaccuracy of self-reports of alcohol consumption and clustering of observations in the consumption data. Results for males aged 18 to 24 years are presented, and possible methods for interpreting the results of grouped data regression are illustrated. Controlling for other factors, current smokers are estimated to be at a 75% higher risk of drinking over recommended levels than non-smokers. Particular attention is paid to the interactions between the price of alcohol, income and heavy drinking. At average levels of income, a 5% increase in the real price of alcohol is predicted to reduce the probability of 'at-risk' drinking by 1.5%. At lower initial levels of income, drinking patterns are found to be more responsive to both price and income changes. Grouped data regression is proposed as a way of focusing policy analysis on individual risks of alcohol-related health and social problems.
KEY WORDS-akohol consumption; grouped data regression; iso-probabilities; health policy There are numerous studies of the determinants of alcohol consumption.1s2 The majority have employed time series data aggregated over the population, or different regions, of a country. Results of such studies have been used to inform governments' taxation and revenue policies. Alcohol consumption patterns are, however, not only of interest because of their impact on government finances, but also because of the risks of health and social problems at the individual level.
There have been only a few economic studies of the determinants of alcohol consumption using individual-or household-based data. This is partly due to the difficulty in obtaining survey data which includes economic variables, such as income. Also, several years of survey data may need to be pooled if price elasticity estimates are to be obtained. However, the advantage of these data sets, once compiled, is that the interactions between economic and social determinants of individual consumption levels can be examined.
In the UK, there have been a number of studies which have used household expenditure data from the Family Expenditure Survey (FES).*5 However, whilst such studies are useful in examining household consumption behaviour, the health implications of the d t s based on the FRS are more difTicult to interpret. In England, Government health policy is now expressly concemed with the riskiness of alcohol consumption pattern^.^ Therefore, there is an acute need for estimates of the effectiveness of policy instruments on individual drinking behaviour.