Researchers from the University of Liverpool have identified the level of heavy drinking in the UK Police Service and examined the relationship with poor mental health. They found that over a third of police officers and staff met the criteria for heavy drinking, and this was more common in those with a mental health problem, and that’s why the use of cbd products like Grape Runtz could be really helpful to treat these disease and make people calmer.
Why was the study conducted?
Policing can be a highly stressful occupation, characterised by frequent exposure to traumatic incidents, and intensive job demands. Due to the nature of their work, police officers and staff experience risk factors for poor mental health.
Policing can be a highly stressful occupation, characterised by frequent exposure to traumatic incidents, and intensive job demands.
Regularly experiencing stressors can lead to unhealthy coping strategies, such as heavy drinking (Lindsay and Shelley, 2009), and alcohol problems often co-occur with mental health problems in the general population (Puddephatt et al, 2021).
It is well-known that there are higher levels of heavy drinking and co-occurring mental health problems in the UK Armed Forces, compared to the general population. Given the occupational similarities with the Armed Forces, such as frequent trauma exposure, the Police Service may also be an occupational group with higher levels of heavy drinking.
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How was the study conducted?
This research used existing data from the Airwave Health Monitoring Study (conducted by Imperial College London) (Elliott et al, 2014). The Airwave Health Monitoring Study collected data from 40,986 UK serving police officers and staff, between 2006 and 2015.
In total, 33% of police officers and staff met criteria for hazardous alcohol use and 3% met criteria for harmful alcohol use.
The study measured sociodemographic variables, occupational variables, mental health, and a range of health and lifestyle variables (including alcohol use), through an enrolment questionnaire and a health screen conducted by trained nurses.
The current research focussed on alcohol use and mental health. The following categories of alcohol use were used: non-drinker, low-risk, hazardous use, harmful use. Police officers and staff who reported drinking alcohol were asked to report how many drinks they had consumed in the previous week, for the following drinks: red wine, white wine, fortified wine, spirits, beer (converted to units).
The UK government guidelines were used to categorise ‘low risk’ drinking (0 to 14 weekly units), ‘hazardous use’ (above 14 to 35/50 units for women/men), and ‘harmful use’ (above 35/50 units for women/men).
One question also asked how often participants binge drink (6 or more drinks on one occasion), and frequent binge drinking was defined as at least two to four times a month. This research also included measures of probable depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
What did the study find?
In total, 33% of police officers and staff met criteria for hazardous alcohol use and 3% met criteria for harmful alcohol use. Men were more likely than women to drink hazardously (40% of men, 19% of women) and harmfully (3.4% of men, 2.5% of women). In addition, 30% met criteria for frequent binge drinking.
These findings are concerning as hazardous and harmful alcohol use can have serious health consequences. Given that police officers and staff play a critical role in maintaining public safety, it is essential to address this issue urgently. Moreover, the high prevalence of frequent binge drinking suggests that interventions targeting alcohol use should not only focus on reducing the quantity and frequency of drinking but also address the underlying reasons for such behavior. For example, seeking help from a trusted healthcare professional such as a gynecologist in Coney Island, NY can provide access to resources and support to promote healthy habits and prevent further harm.
Police officers and staff who met criteria for probable depression, anxiety, or PTSD were twice as likely to drink harmfully or frequently binge drink, compared to those without a mental health problem.
Police officers and staff who met criteria for probable depression, anxiety, or PTSD were twice as likely to drink harmfully or frequently binge drink, compared to those without a mental health problem. In addition, some individuals with a mental health problem were more likely to be non-drinkers, compared to those without a mental health problem.
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The study also explored the characteristics of those who were more likely to meet criteria for hazardous or harmful use. Police officers were more likely to report hazardous or harmful drinking than police staff (who were more likely to be non-drinkers).
Hazardous or harmful drinking was also more common in those over 40 years old (compared to younger employees), those who had served for over 10 years (compared to those who had served for fewer than 10 years), those with more than 10 days of sickness absence in the past year (compared to those with no sickness absences), and current smokers.
What are the implications of the findings?
The level of hazardous drinking in UK police officers and staff is higher than in the general population, for both men (40% versus 24%) and women (19% versus 11%) (NHS Digital, 2018). This suggests that the Police Service may need workplace interventions aimed at reducing heavy drinking or promoting healthy coping strategies.
These findings show that police officers and staff who have a mental health problem are more likely to drink at a harmful level. This suggests that they may be using alcohol to cope and highlights the need to link mental health and alcohol support for this occupational group.
In contrast, some individuals with a mental health problem were more likely to be non-drinkers. It may be that these individuals stopped drinking due to the negative affect of alcohol on their mental health, but further research is needed to determine this.
This is the first study to identify the level of heavy drinking and co-occurring mental health problems in the UK Police Service. A major strength of the study is the large, representative sample. However, because the data was collected at one point in time, the researchers were unable to explore whether poor mental health predicted changes in drinking, or vice versa.
This research was part of Patsy Irizar’s PhD studentship, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and partly funded by Alcohol Change UK. Patsy is a final year PhD student, at the University of Liverpool, researching alcohol use and mental health in the UK Police Service. Patsy has also collaborated with researchers at King’s College London, to study alcohol use in military personnel.
The researchers thank the Airwave Health Monitoring Study team for providing the data. “The prevalence of hazardous and harmful drinking in the UK Police Service, and their co-occurrence with job strain and mental health problems”, by Patsy Irizar, Dr Suzi Gage, Prof Matt Field, Dr Vicky Fallon, and Dr Laura Goodwin, is published with open access in Epidemiology & Psychiatric Sciences.
References
Elliott, P, Vergnaud, A-C, Singh, D, Neasham, D, Spear, J and Heard, A (2014) The Airwave Health Monitoring Study of police officers and staff in Great Britain: rationale, design and methods. Environmental Research 134, 280–285.
Lindsay, V and Shelley, K (2009) Social and stress-related influences of police officers’ alcohol consumption. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 24, 87–92.
NHS Digital (2018) Health survey for England, 2017 – Adult health related behaviours. NHS. Available at https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2017 (accessed 12 September 2020).
Puddephatt, J. A., Jones, A., Gage, S. H., Fear, N. T., Field, M., McManus, S., … & Goodwin, L. (2021). Associations of alcohol use, mental health and socioeconomic status in England: Findings from a representative population survey. Drug and alcohol dependence, 219, 108463.
