Attitudes towards alcohol in Scotland

Authors: Clare Sharp, Anna Marcinkiewicz, Lisa Rutherford

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Summary

This report presents findings based on a set of questions exploring attitudes to alcohol which were included in the 2013 Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) Survey. The questions were funded by Scottish Government and managed by NHS Health Scotland, with the aims of tracking changes in attitudes to drinking alcohol since 2004 and 2007 (when previous alcohol modules were included on SSA) and providing a baseline picture of public attitudes to minimum unit pricing (MUP).

Introduction

Alcohol is a key risk factor for ill-health, contributing to a wide range of health problems. 1 It is also associated with social problems including crime and anti-social behaviour.

Scotland has comparatively high levels of alcohol-related deaths and illhealth compared with elsewhere in the UK and much of Western Europe. In 2006, the Lancet published a landmark paper showing a dramatic increase in liver cirrhosis mortality in Scotland during the 1990s, a time when trends in most other European countries were downwards.

Addressing the problems caused by alcohol has been a priority for the Scottish Government, who has introduced a number of key legislative and policy developments over the years as part of Scotland’s alcohol strategy. The box below summarises some of the key features of strategy.

Interviews with a representative sample of the Scottish population were conducted between June and October 2013, with 1,497 interviews being achieved. The questions on alcohol were funded by the Scottish Government and managed by NHS Health Scotland, with the aims of tracking changes in attitudes to drinking alcohol since 2004 and 2007 (when previous alcohol modules were included) and providing a baseline picture of public attitudes to minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland.

In particular, the report addresses the following key questions:

•  How aware are people of the unit content of alcoholic drinks and the sensible drinking guidelines?
• What do people in Scotland think about alcohol and drinking, and how have their views changed over time?
• How do views about alcohol and drinking relate to drinking behaviour?
• How important is the social context of drinking to perceptions of different drinking behaviours?
• To what extent are people in favour of minimum unit pricing?