Harm Experienced from the Heavy Drinking of Family and Friends in the General Population: A Comparative Study of Six Northern European Countries.

Background: Epidemiological research on alcohol-related harm has long given priority to studies on harm to the drinker. A limitation with this perspective is that it neglects the harm drinking causes to people around the drinker, and thus, it fails to give a full picture of alcohol-related harm in society.

Aim: The aim was to compare the prevalence and correlates of experiencing harm from the heavy drinking by family and friends across the Nordic countries and Scotland and to discuss whether potential differences match levels of drinking, prevalence of binge drinking, and alcohol-related mortality.

Negative consequences of other people's drinking: Prevalence, perpetrators and locations.

Introduction And Aims: While both policy makers and researchers have shown renewed interest in drinking and harm to others, several questions concerning the issue remain unanswered. The aim of this study was to address some of these questions by: (i) presenting updated figures on the prevalence of experienced harm from other people's drinking in various sub-groups; and (ii) examining in which locations such episodes most often occur and who the perpetrators usually are.

Design And Methods: Data were obtained from a general population survey among 16- to 79-year-old Norwegians (n = 1947), where experiences of five negative consequences related to other people's drinking (e.

Comparison of drugs used by nightclub patrons and criminal offenders in Oslo, Norway.

The aim of this study was to investigate psychoactive drug use among nightclub patrons by analysing samples of oral fluid and compare with findings in blood samples from criminal suspects. We hypothesized that the profile of illicit drug use among nightclub patrons is different from what we observe in those forensic cases. Research stations were established outside nine popular nightclubs with different profiles and patron-characteristics in downtown Oslo.

Minimization of Childhood Maltreatment Is Common and Consequential: Results from a Large, Multinational Sample Using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

Childhood maltreatment has diverse, lifelong impact on morbidity and mortality. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) is one of the most commonly used scales to assess and quantify these experiences and their impact. Curiously, despite very widespread use of the CTQ, scores on its Minimization-Denial (MD) subscale-originally designed to assess a positive response bias-are rarely reported.

A Cohort Study on Long-Term Adverse Effects of Parental Drinking: Background and Study Design.

Although many studies have addressed adverse outcomes in children of parents with alcohol abuse/dependence, less is known about the possible long-term effects of more normative patterns of parental alcohol consumption, including drinking at lower risk levels and heavy episodic or binge drinking. The extent of harm from parental drinking may therefore be underestimated. With this research proposal, we describe a project that aims to assess possible long-term adverse effects of parental drinking by combining survey and nationwide registry data.

Use of alcohol and drugs by employees in selected business areas in Norway: a study using oral fluid testing and questionnaires.

Background: Alcohol or drug use and associated hangover may reduce workplace safety and productivity and also cause sickness absence. The aims of this study were to examine (i) the use of alcohol and drugs, and (ii) reduced efficiency at work and absence due to such use among employees.

Methods: Forty-four companies were invited; half of them agreed to participate.

Experienced Harm from Other People's Drinking: A Comparison of Northern European Countries.

Objective: This study addresses how experienced harm from other people's drinking varies between six Northern European countries by comparing 1) the prevalence of experienced harm and 2) the correlates of harm.

Method: The data comprise 18-69-year olds who participated in general population surveys in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Scotland during the period 2008-2013. Comparative data were available on five types of harm: physical abuse, damage of clothes/belongings, verbal abuse, being afraid, and being kept awake at night.

Overlap in attitudes to policy measures on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.

Background: Effective alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug policies reduce the harm to users and third parties. Knowledge about determinants and interrelations between attitudes held by the general public to different types of policy measures can benefit policy-makers who aim to increase acceptance for effective policy. The present study describes the level of support for various policy measures held by the general public, and investigates the association between attitudes to policy measures on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug.

Who receives cannabis use offers: A general population study of adolescents.

Background: Drug use is predicated on a combination of "willingness" and "opportunity". That is, independent of any desire to use drugs, a drug use opportunity is required; be it indirect (i.e.

Why the 'last drinking occasion' approach to measuring alcohol consumption should be avoided.

Introduction And Aims: There has been debate about which type of measurement instrument gives the best alcohol consumption estimates. This study used alcohol consumption data for a simulated population to compare the last drinking occasion (LDO) method against the true alcohol consumption. The LDO method requires respondents to indicate the quantity consumed at the LDO, and this information is used to calculate population estimates.

Are overdoses treated by ambulance services an opportunity for additional interventions? A prospective cohort study.

Aims: To assess whether people who inject drugs (PWID) and who are treated for overdose by ambulance services have a greater mortality risk compared with other PWID, and to compare mortality risk within potentially critical time-periods (1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years) after an overdose attendance with the mortality risk within potentially non-critical time-periods (time before and/or after critical periods).

Design: A prospective cohort study.

Setting: Oslo, Norway.

Associations between emotional distress and heavy drinking among young people: A longitudinal study.

Introduction And Aims: This study adds to the meagre body of longitudinal research on the link between emotional distress and alcohol use among young people. We address the following research questions: Are symptoms of anxiety and depressed mood likely to be causally related to heavy episodic drinking (HED)? Does the association change as individuals move from adolescence to early adulthood?

Design And Methods: Data stemmed from a national sample of young people in Norway that was assessed in 1992 (T1; mean age = 14.9 years), 1994 (T2), 1999 (T3) and 2005 (T4) (response rate: 60%, n = 2171).

Is Drinking with Parents Associated with High-Risk Drinking among Adolescents?

Background/aims: What are the implications of drinking with parents (DWP) on adolescents' drinking behavior? We expanded the meagre body of research on this controversial issue by assessing the association between the frequency of DWP and adolescent high-risk drinking, taking a number of parental factors into account.

Method: Data stemmed from a subsample of 14-17-year-old current drinkers (n = 7,616) who participated in a cross-sectional Norwegian school survey (response rate: 84%).

Results: One in four reported DWP during the past year.

Co-occurrence between mental distress and poly-drug use: a ten year prospective study of patients from substance abuse treatment.

Introduction: Longitudinal research investigating psychiatric trajectories among patients with poly-drug use patterns remains relatively scant, even though this specific population is at elevated risk for multiple negative outcomes. The present study examined temporal associations between poly-drug use (i.e.

Changes in mortality due to major alcohol-related diseases in four Nordic countries, France and Germany between 1980 and 2009: a comparative age-period-cohort analysis.

Aims: To investigate age, period and cohort effects on time trends of alcohol-related mortality in countries with different drinking habits and alcohol policies.

Design And Setting: Age-period-cohort (APC) analyses on alcohol-related mortality were conducted in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France and Germany.

Participants: Cases included alcohol-related deaths in the age range 20-84 years between 1980 and 2009.

Adolescent alcohol use before and after the high school transition.

Background: An important question is whether the high school (HS) entry is a critical developmental event associated with escalation of alcohol use. This study examined trajectories of adolescent alcohol use as a function of a normative developmental event-the HS entry. In addition, given that at-risk youth may be particularly vulnerable to the stress associated with this transition, we examined how these alcohol use trajectories may be shaped by a measure of early behavioral risk, early adolescent delinquency.

The total sale of prescription drugs with an abuse potential predicts the number of excessive users: a national prescription database study.

Background: Prescription drug sales may vary considerably across regions and over time. This study aimed to assess whether there is an association between mean drug sales and prevalence of excessive use in a range of psychotropic prescription drugs with an abuse potential, and if so, whether the variation in mean drug sales mostly reflects variation in the prevalence of excessive use or mostly reflects variation in non-excessive use.

Methods: Data on all filled prescriptions taken from the Norwegian prescription database for 10 drugs with an abuse potential (pain relievers, anxiolytics, and hypnotics) during one calendar year (2005) in Norway (n = 4,053,624) included number of defined daily doses (DDD).

Illicit use of opioid substitution drugs: prevalence, user characteristics, and the association with non-fatal overdoses.

Background And Aims: Diversion of opioid substitution drugs (OSD) is of public concern. This study examined the prevalence, frequency, and predictors of illicit OSD use in a group of injecting drug users (IDUs) and assessed if such use was associated with non-fatal overdoses.

Methods: Semi-annual cross-sectional interviews conducted in Oslo, Norway (2006-2013), from 1355 street-recruited IDUs.

How has the availability of snus influenced cigarette smoking in Norway?

Background: In Norway, low-nitrosamine smokeless tobacco (snus) is allowed to compete with cigarettes for market share. We aimed to study how the availability of snus influenced overall tobacco consumption, smoking initiation and smoking cessation. We discuss whether the Norwegian experience with snus can have any transfer value for e-cigarettes.

Predicting attitudes toward a restrictive alcohol policy: Using a model of distal and proximal predictors.

Previous research on attitudes toward a restrictive alcohol policy has mainly focused on variables such as demographics and own drinking as possible predictors. The present article adds to the existing literature by examining the impact of a set of beliefs and personal experiences with the harm caused by other peoples' drinking. We suggest and test an analytic model in which the predictors are ranked according to their conceptual proximity to attitudes.

Lifetime smoking habits among Norwegian men and women born between 1890 and 1994: a cohort analysis using cross-sectional data.

Objectives: Providing lifetime smoking prevalence data and gender-specific cigarette consumption data for use in epidemiological studies of tobacco-induced cancer in Norway. Characterising smoking patterns in birth cohorts is essential for evaluating the impact of tobacco control interventions and predicting smoking-related mortality.

Setting: Norway.

Alcohol in the second half of life: do usual quantity and frequency of drinking to intoxication increase with increased drinking frequency?

Aims: We investigated if increased drinking frequency among adults in the second half of life co-occurred with increased usual quantity and increased intoxication frequency.

Design: Two-wave panel study.

Setting: Norway.

Gender differences in mortality and risk factors in a 13-year cohort study of street-recruited injecting drug users.

Background: Injecting drug users (IDUs) are at risk of premature mortality. This study examined gender differences in mortality, risk factors, and causes of death among IDUs.

Methods: In a 13-year cohort study including 172 street-recruited IDUs from Oslo, Norway in 1997, interview data was merged with the National Cause of Death Registry.

Sexual assault while too intoxicated to resist: a general population study of Norwegian teenage girls.

Background: Underage drinking is widespread, but studies on alcohol-related sexual victimization among teenage girls are almost non-existent. Research on individual correlates and risk factors of sexual victimization more generally is also meager. This study focuses on sexual assault while incapacitated due to drunkenness among 15-18 year-old girls and examines how age, drinking behavior, impulsivity and involvement in norm-violating activities are associated with such victimization experiences.

Does liberalizing cannabis laws increase cannabis use?

A key question in the ongoing policy debate over cannabis' legal status is whether liberalizing cannabis laws leads to an increase in cannabis use. This paper provides new evidence on the impact of a specific type of liberalization, decriminalization, on initiation into cannabis use. Our identification strategy exploits variation in the timing of cannabis policy reforms and our estimation framework marries a difference-in-difference approach with a discrete time duration model.