Almost 4.2 percent of young adults aged between 18 and 34 have experienced some form of harm from others’ drinking (HFOD), but only about 33 percent of victims have sought help, a National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) study showed.
Many people would be enjoying barbecuing and drinking alcoholic beverages with family and friends today for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the study warned that people should be cautious of HFOD among young adults.
HFOD includes physical or psychological harm done by an individual after they have consumed alcohol.
Photo: Taipei Times Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health
The research team led by NHRI vice president Chen Wei-jen (陳為堅) and NHRI Center for Neuropsychiatric Research researcher Chen Chuan-yu (陳娟瑜) used data from a 2018 household survey on substance use experiences to analyze HFOD prevalence, risk factors and impact on quality of life among young adults.
The analytic sample consisted of 4,901 participants aged between 18 and 34 who were asked: “Have you ever experienced any HFOD in your lifetime?”
The respondents were asked about experiences of “physical harm” — which included injury from weapons, physical violence, physical assault and sexual violence — and “psychological harm,” which included verbal humiliation, verbal violence and threat by weapons. They were also asked about whether they sought help.
The study said it used a five-dimensional questionnaire to evaluate people’s quality of life and examined the direct effect of HFOD on their quality of life.
About 4.2 percent of young adults have experienced some form of HFOD, the study found, adding that psychological harm was more common than physical harm.
Perpetrators of HFOD include family members, friends and strangers, with family members being the most common perpetrator (60 percent) for victims aged 18 to 26, and strangers (one-third) among victims aged 25 to 29, the study found.
The study also found that those aged between 25 and 29, and 30 and 34 were more two to three times more likely to experience HFOD compared with those aged between 18 and 24.
Chen said people aged 25 or older have a higher risk of HFOD as most of them have entered the workplace, are exposed to more complicated matters and people, and are more likely to attend social gatherings for work.
The study also found that alcohol drinking might increase one’s vulnerability to alcohol-related physical and sexual assaults, and those who have the experience of being drunk have an increased risk of physical HFOD.
However, only 33 percent of HFOD victims have sought help and most of them experienced physical HFOD, not psychological HFOD, the study showed.
Chen said Taiwan’s awareness of HFOD is limited at present. Empirical data are mostly on driving under the influence, but there is a lack of data on HFOD from family members or friends.
The study underlines the seriousness of HFOD for young adults in Taiwan, which is often overlooked, he said.
The government has a youth mental health support program, which offers free psychological consultation sessions to people aged between 15 and 45, so those who need support should make use of the program, he said
The research team said it hopes the findings can help policymakers formulate intervention strategies addressing alcohol harm, and help frontline social workers, health providers, police and paramedics identify potential HFOD victims.
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