Exploring exposure to television alcohol advertising and harmful aicohol use among South African youth
Date
2016
Authors
Moodley, D
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Abstract
Youth are targets of alcohol marketing (World Health Organization, 2010a). Studies conducted in South Africa indicate an increasing trend in the prevalence of drinking among youth (Rehm et al., 2004). Nationally, 49.2% of learners had drunk one or more drinks of alcohol (e.g. a beer, a glass of wine, or a ‘tot’ of brandy) in their lifetime, with significantly more males (53.8%) than female (44.9%) learners consuming alcohol. (Omardien et al., 2013). The same study found that 12.4% of learners reported having the first drink before the age of 13 years. Early alcohol initiation remains a concern and binge drinking is increasing, especially among females (Ramsoomar and Morojele, 2012).
One of the key considerations to reduce harmful alcohol use in South Africa is to place restrictions on alcohol advertising. This process was initiated in 1997 as part of a policy initiative to reduce the harmful impact of alcohol, but this was delayed (Parry, 2010). Hence, youth in South Africa are still exposed to alcohol marketing on television (TV) and other media. This study aimed to explore associations between TV alcohol advertising exposure and youth drinking patterns.
Methods
This is a secondary analysis of data from the National Communication Survey (NCS), a national cross sectional study that included data on TV exposure and alcohol-related behaviours in South Africa. The alcohol advertisements that were broadcast in each of the national television stations during the study period were also explored to establish the plausibility of exposure of youth to such advertisements. For this study, the sample was restricted to youth aged 16 - 24 years. Descriptive data on their alcohol use patterns and exposure to television were explored and tests of association were conducted for categorical outcomes, e.g. never having drunk, ever having drunk, binge drinking and problem drinking, and other variables, e.g. socio-demographic characteristics and TV viewership at the 95% confidence level.
Results
The prevalence for the three alcohol drinking patterns in the total sample of youth were 34.9% having ever drunk; 20.7% binge drinking; and 14.0 % problem drinking. Of those who had ever drunk, 60.5% engaged in binge drinking and 41.2% had problem drinking, with males outnumbering females. A number of other characteristics, beyond sex, were also associated with the drinking patterns, including age, education, employment, socio-economic status (SES), and race. The nature of these associations varied according to the drinking patterns, namely, having ever drunk, binge drinking and problem drinking. The frequency of television viewership was associated with the three drinking patterns of the youth. All four television channels had relatively high numbers of alcohol advertisements during the NCS data collection period, meaning that youth reporting television exposure were also likely to have seen alcohol advertisements. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of the broader literature on youth drinking patterns, television viewership patterns and alcohol advertising.
Conclusions
Youth drinking patterns, particularly binge drinking and problem drinking, are of concern. Given that exposure to TV was associated with drinking and all channels had high numbers of alcohol advertisements, restrictions on alcohol advertising on TV should be considered to prevent or reduce alcohol-related harm among South African youth.
Description
A research report submitted to the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Health
2 June 2016