Alcohol Harms over a Period of Alcohol Policy Reform: Surveys of New Zealand College Residents in 2004 and 2014

Background: We estimated the change in the prevalence of harms attributed by students to their drinking and to others’ drinking, over a decade of concerted effort by university authorities to reduce antisocial behaviour and improve student safety. Interventions included a security and liaison service, a stricter code of conduct, challenges to liquor license applications near campus, and a ban on alcohol advertising. Methods: We used a pre-post design adjusting for population changes. We invited all students residing in colleges of a New Zealand University to complete web surveys in 2004 and 2014, using identical methods. We estimated change in the 4-week prevalence of 15 problems and harms among drinkers, and nine harms from others’ drinking among all respondents. We adjusted for differences in sample sociodemographic characteristics between surveys. Results: Among drinkers there were reductions in several harms, the largest being in acts of vandalism (7.1% to 2.7%), theft (11% to 4.5%), and physical aggression (10% to 5.3%). Among all respondents (including non-drinkers), there were reductions in unwanted sexual advances (14% to 8.9%) and being the victim of sexual assault (1.0% to 0.4%). Conclusion: Alcohol-related harm, including the most serious outcomes, decreased substantially among college residents in this period of alcohol policy reform. In conjunction with evidence of reduced drinking to intoxication in this population, the findings suggest that strategies to reduce the availability and promotion of alcohol on and near campus can substantially reduce the incidence of health and social harms.