Alcohol-impaired Walking in 16 Countries
A Theory-Based Investigation
Oscar Oviedo-Trespalacios (Queensland University of Technology)
Ali Kemal Çelik (Ardahan University)
Ana Marti-Belda (Universidad de Valencia (ICMol))
Anna Włodarczyk (Universidad Catolica de Norte)
Daniel Demant (University of Technology Sydney, Queensland University of Technology)
Duy Q. Nguyen-Phuoc (The University of Da Nang)
Elisabeth Rubie (Queensland University of Technology)
Erkan Oktay (Atatürk University)
Gabriel Dorantes Argandar (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos)
J. E. Rod (Queensland University of Technology)
Jean Carlos Natividade (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro)
Joonha Park (NUCB)
Jorge Tiago Bastos (Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR))
Laura Martínez-Buelvas (Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar)
Maria de Fátima Pereira da Silva (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra – ISEC)
Mário Velindro (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra – ISEC)
Matus Sucha (Palacky University)
Mauricio Orozco-Fontalvo (Universidad Militar Nueva Granada)
Miguel Barboza-Palomino (Universidad Privada del Norte)
Quan Yuan (Tsinghua University)
Rui Mendes (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra – ISEC)
Rusdi Rusli (Universiti Teknologi MARA)
Samira Ramezani (University Medical Center Groningen)
Sergio A. Useche (Universidad de Valencia (ICMol))
Sibele Dias de Aquino (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro)
Takashi Tsubakita (NUCB)
Tatiana Volkodav (Kuban State University)
Tiina Rinne (Aalto University)
Violeta Enea (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University)
Yonggang Wang (Chang'an University)
Mark King (Queensland University of Technology)
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Abstract
Alcohol is a global risk factor for road trauma. Although drink driving has received most of the scholarly attention, there is growing evidence of the risks of alcohol-impaired walking. Alcohol-impaired pedestrians are over-represented in fatal crashes compared to non-impaired pedestrians. Additionally, empirical evidence shows that alcohol intoxication impairs road-crossing judgements. Besides some limited early research, much is unknown about the global prevalence and determinants of alcohol-impaired walking. Understanding alcohol-impaired walking will support health promotion initiatives and injury prevention. The present investigation has three aims: (1) compare the prevalence of alcohol-impaired walking across countries; (2) identify international groups of pedestrians based on psychosocial factors (i.e., Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and perceptions of risk); and (3) investigate how segments of pedestrians form their intention for alcohol-impaired walking using the extended TPB (i.e. subjective norm, attitudes, perceived control, and perceived risk). A cross-sectional design was applied. The target behaviour question was “have you been a pedestrian when your thinking or physical ability (balance/strength) is affected by alcohol?” to ensure comparability across countries. Cluster analysis based on the extended TPB was used to identify groups of countries. Finally, regressions were used to predict pedestrians’ intentions per group. A total of 6,166 respondents (Age M(SD) = 29.4 (14.2); Males = 39.2%) completed the questionnaire, ranging from 12.6% from Russia to 2.2% from Finland. The proportion of participants who reported never engaging in alcohol-impaired walking in the last three months ranged from 30.1% (Spain) to 83.1% (Turkey). Four groups of countries were identified: group-1 (Czech Republic, Spain, and Australia), group-2 (Russia and Finland), group-3 (Japan), and group-4 (final ten countries including Colombia, China, and Romania). Pedestrian intentions to engage in alcohol- impaired walking are predicted by perceptions of risk and TPB-psychosocial factors in group-1 and group-4. Favourable TPB-beliefs and low perceived risk increased alcohol-impaired walking intentions. Conversely, subjective norms were not significant in group-2 and only perceived risk predicted intention in group-3. The willingness of pedestrians to walk when alcohol-impaired differs significantly across the countries in this study. Perceived risk was the only common predictor among the 16 countries.