Young Australian drinkers' awareness, perceptions and behaviours towards low alcohol beverage products

Blake Palmer; Ben Desbrow; Christopher Irwin

doi:10.1177/02601060241296168

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Young Australian drinkers' awareness, perceptions and behaviours towards low alcohol beverage products

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Young Australian drinkers' awareness, perceptions and behaviours towards low alcohol beverage products

Blake Palmer, Ben Desbrow and Christopher Irwin

Nutrition and Health, Vol.31(3), pp.1263-1270

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/02601060241296168

PMID: 39692329

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Abstract

alcohol consumption behaviours

moderating alcohol consumption

no and lowalcohol products

reduced alcohol beverages

young Australian drinkers

Background: Young Australian drinkers (aged 18–24 years) are more likely to consume alcohol at risky levels than any other age group. The increased availability and diversity of low alcohol beverages (LAB)s available to Australian consumers presents an opportunity for young drinkers to moderate their drinking behaviours. Aim: To explore young risky drinkers’ awareness, perceptions and behaviours towards LAB products. Study Type: A cross-sectional online survey of 159 young Australian risky drinkers aged 18–24 years. Methods: Demographic information, LAB awareness, previous consumption and perceptions of LABs reducing alcohol consumption were captured. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's chi-squared analyses and binomial logistic regression were used to explore data. Results: Overall, 51% of respondents had previously consumed LABs, with most doing so on a few occasions. The choice to consume LABs was influenced by factors including friend and family influence (28%), curiosity (28%) and the purposeful intent to reduce alcohol intake (27%). In contrast, factors preventing the consumption of LABs included individuals’ intent to get drunk (58%), a lack of consideration of LABs (49%) and the perception that higher strength beverages were more desirable (35%). The majority of respondents (63%) agreed that LAB products would assist them and their peers to moderate alcohol consumption behaviours. Conclusion: The majority of young risky drinkers surveyed have consumed LAB products on a limited number of occasions or not at all. There are several factors likely preventing greater uptake of these products. Further work is required to explore whether greater exposure to the diversity of LAB products can moderate alcohol consumption behaviours.

Details

Title: Young Australian drinkers' awareness, perceptions and behaviours towards low alcohol beverage products
Authors: Blake Palmer (Corresponding Author) - Griffith University
Ben Desbrow - Griffith University
Christopher Irwin - Griffith University
Publication details: Nutrition and Health, Vol.31(3), pp.1263-1270
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1177/02601060241296168
ISSN: 2047-945X
PMID: 39692329
Copyright note: © The Author(s) 2024. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Organisation Unit: School of Health - Nutrition & Dietetics
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991091096802621
Output Type: Journal article

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