Identification of Polish households vulnerable to negative health effects resulting from alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and drugs consumption

The aim of the study was to compare the level and the structure of expenditures on alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and illicit drugs in Polish households distinguished by socioeconomic group, education level and gender taking into account the head of the family.

Materials OECD database individual data of the household budget survey by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (GUS) The collection included more than 37 thousand households.

Methods Correlation relationships. The construction of correlation relations based on equality of variance, these are the measures of dimensionless quantities which amount to values between 0 and 1. When variables are uncorrelated, the measures are equal to 0. Scheffe test. It is one of the tests examining statistical significance which carries out a comparison of post-hoc. This is the most conservative test.

The level and share of expenditures on alcohol, tobacco and drugs in different Polish household types

The correlation coefficient between the level of expenditures and households distingueshed according to education level of the head of the family was 0,081. Education of household head lower secondary, primary or less basic vocational education secondary and post-secondary education higher education lower secondary, primary or less 0,000590,00000 basic vocational education 0,000590,00000 secondary and post-secondary education 0,00000 higher education 0,00000 Significant differences in expenditures on alcoholic beverages, tobacco and drugs among households led by people with different levels of education

The level and share of spending on alcoholic beverages, tobacco and illicit drugs Polish households depending on the education of the head of the household

Significant differences in expenditures on alcohol, tobacco and drugs among households led by people from different socioeconomic groups Correlation coefficient was equal to

The level and share of expenditures on alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and drugs in Polish households according to socioeconomic group

The gender of the head of the household is another variable statistically significant in level of alcohol consumption, tobacco and drug use. Their correlation coefficient was equal to

The level and share of expenditures on alcoholic beverages, tobacco and illicit drugs in Polish households according to the gender of the household head

Conclusion

The present study proved that among all considered correlations the strongest one was between level of education and expenditures on alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs. The lower strength of correlation was observed with respect to socioeconomic group membership and gender of the household head. Groups vulnerable to effects of aforementioned products consumption were people of lower level of education (vocational, basic and below), manual workers and supplementary welfare allowance recipients. Taking into account another research conducted by authors there was a high level of expenditures on food in those groups; this proved relatively difficult financial situation of these households. Consumption of the stimulants and inadequate protection of the nutritional needs may lead to negatice health effects in selected groups of households.

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