In the 2010 Health and Lifestyles Survey, 1,740 participants were asked a series of questions about drinking status, how much they would support or oppose various changes if they were to help reduce the problems associated with alcohol use, and their exposure to alcohol advertising in the past three months. These topics included the price, availability and purchase age of alcohol, as well as its advertising, promotion and sponsorship. These questions were used to gain a greater insight into various alcohol-related attitudes, which will increase our understanding of various health-related behaviours.
Methodology
A statistical weighting was used to ensure the characteristics of the sample match the total New Zealand population, accounting for gender, age and ethnicity biases. The population benchmarks were calculated using the latest New Zealand Census (conducted March 2006) and are representative of Statistics New Zealand’s 2010 estimated usually resident population counts. All descriptive statistics used in this report are weighted values.
Descriptive statistics used in this report include 95% confidence intervals to represent the sample error for estimates. This means that there is a 95% likelihood that the true population (frequency, mean or odds) is located between the lower and upper confidence interval values. Two methods were used in order to show significant differences between estimates. First, estimates are said to be significantly different if the 95% confidence intervals do not overlap. It is also possible that the confidence intervals overlap, but there can still be a statistically significant difference. In this case the difference was tested using appropriate statistical techniques, with = .05. An odds ratio is statistically significant if the 95% confidence interval does not include 1 (for more information, please refer to the full methodology report, which can be found at www.hsc.org.nz).
Various demographics are examined for each question including age, gender, ethnicity, deprivation, equivalised income, employment status, education, location, smoking status and parent/caregiver status. Interactions between demographic variables were also analysed and significant interactions are presented in this report. Age was analysed using two separate categories- a two-level category of 15-17 year olds versus those aged 18 years and older; and a four-level category of 15 to 17-year-olds, 18 to 24-year-olds, 24 to 44-year-olds and those aged 45 years and older. Equivalised income is the total household income adjusted for the number of adults, as well as the number and age of children in the household. These were categorised into low, medium and high tertiles in this report. Prioritised ethnic grouping was used. Prioritisation involves each respondent being allocated to a single ethnic group that they identified with, in the prioritised order of Māori, Pacific, Asian and European/other. Each mesh block was given a deprivation decile value that was further grouped into low (1-3), mid (4-7) and high (8-10) deprivation groups. Smoking status was divided into current smokers (smokes at least once a month), non-smokers (those that have never smoked) and past smokers (those that have smoked but currently do not). Further information on demographics can be found in the full methodology report, which can be found at www.hsc.org.nz.
Throughout this report, small sample numbers may be suppressed in order to reduce problems of confidentiality and reliability. If the sample is too small it may not adequately represent the population from which it has been drawn, and individuals may be identifiable from the small numbers.