Effects of financial stress on drinking amount and price paid: Australian longitudinal household data

Abstract Background and aims This study estimated within‐household differences in alcohol consumption, alcohol expenditure, price paid per standard drink and the proportion of household expenditure spent on alcohol between periods with and without financial stress. It also estimated whether these outcomes differed in the year after households no longer met criteria for financial stress. Design Longitudinal household panel study using repeated annual observations from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, with within‐household comparisons across periods with and without financial stress. Setting Australia. Participants/cases Approximately 11 000 households contributing 143 168 household‐year observations across 16 annual survey waves. Measurements Financial stress was measured using household reports of difficulty meeting basic financial obligations. Outcomes were price paid per standard drink, weekly household alcohol consumption, weekly household alcohol expenditure and the proportion of weekly household expenditure spent on alcohol. Results During periods of financial stress, households paid less per standard drink [ratio = 0.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.86–0.88], consumed more alcohol (ratio = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.04–1.05) and spent less on alcohol overall (ratio = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.94–0.95) than during periods without financial stress. Similar patterns were observed in the year after financial stress, and there was no evidence that the proportion of household expenditure spent on alcohol differed during or after financial stress. Summary In Australian households, periods of financial stress appear to be associated with lower alcohol expenditure, higher alcohol consumption and lower price paid per standard drink than periods without financial stress.