http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:8334 Findings of a recent study suggest that receiving alcohol industry sponsorship may increase sports participants’ drinking. The study involved a cross-sectional survey of 1279 participants from 14 team and individual sports in three large provinces of New Zealand. Level of involvement in sport ranged from social/club level through to provincial or national representation. Almost half the respondents received some form of alcohol industry sponsorship. Receiving such sponsorship, particularly in the form of free or discounted alcohol, was associated with higher scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. To those familiar with the alcohol research literature these findings will have come as no surprise, but there has been little previous research on the subject, and the study has been described as an initial step, providing ‘some much-needed evidence in an ideological discussion'. 2011-07-19T05:40:11.028Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:5507 Introduction and Aims: In large population-based alcohol studies males are shown consistently to drink more, and more hazardously, than females. However, research from some countries suggests that gender differences in drinking are converging, with females drinking more than in the past. Large population-based research may miss gender-based changes in drinking behaviours that occur in sub-populations most at risk of hazardous drinking. We examine gender differences in a sub-population where hazardous drinking is common and endorsed, namely university sportspeople. Design and Methods: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and a drinking motives measure were used to assess hazardous drinking behaviours and drinking motives in 631 university sportspeople (females=331, 52%). Results: There were no gender differences in AUDIT scores. However, drinking motives differed between genders, with coping motives being a significant predictor of hazardous drinking in females but not males. Hazardous drinking, including binge drinking (46.3%) and frequent binge drinking (35%), in New Zealand university sportspeople is high for both males and females. Discussion and Conclusions: New Zealand university sportspeople are one population where gender differences in drinking are not apparent and run counter to European population based research and research in US sporting populations. Gender role equality in the university systems, and endorsement of drinking in sporting culture, may account for the lack of gender differences in this New Zealand sporting population. Future research on gender differences in drinking should examine sub-populations where gender role differentiation is low, and socio-cultural/structural factors supporting gender equality are high. 2011-02-03T02:40:01.346Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:5548 Aims: To examine the nature and extent of alcohol industry sponsorship of sportspeople, and its association with drinking. Methods: A purposive sample of participants (n = 1279) from various sporting codes were asked whether they personally, their team, or club received free and/or discounted alcohol or funding from an alcohol industry body (e.g. pub, brewery, wholesaler); how much they received; and whether they felt they should drink their sponsor’s product and/or at the sponsor’s premises. Drinking behaviour was assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire. Finding: Alcohol industry sponsorship was reported by 47.8% of the sample. Of those sponsored, 47% reported receiving free and/or discounted alcohol products. In multivariate models, those receiving sponsorship at the individual, team and club level had AUDIT scores that were, on average, 2.4 points higher [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.70–4.09] than those who received no sponsorship. Receiving free and/or discounted alcohol (βadj = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.01–1.88) and feeling that they should go to the sponsor’s pub/club to drink (βadj = 1.91, 95% CI: 0.85–2.98) were also associated with higher AUDIT scores. Provision of free or discounted alcoholic beverages was associated more strongly with AUDIT scores (βadj = 1.56; 95% CI: 0.62–2.51) than other forms of sponsorship from the alcohol industry (e.g. provision of uniforms). Conclusions: Alcohol industry sponsorship of sportspeople, and in particular the provision of free or discounted alcoholic beverages, is associated with hazardous drinking after adjustment for a range of potential confounders. Sports administration bodies should consider the health and ethical risks of accepting alcohol industry sponsorship. 2010-04-27T04:46:05.881Z ]]>