The study draws data from two major sources. The first is the Gender, Alcohol, and Culture: An International Study (UND Genacis). The Genacis dataset (GENACIS, Addiction Switzerland) includes a number of questions for drinkers about harms they inflicted on someone else. This dataset is used to examine the experience of alcohol’s harms to others from the harming drinker’s perspective, providing detailed information on the harming drinker’s own drinking patterns and other characteristics.

The second source of data is the set of separately funded Harms to Others surveys. These surveys ask those who were harmed by another drinker about their experience of being harmed, how this has impacted them, and the sources of harm (partner, family member, acquaintance, or stranger). The AHTO surveys thus provide considerable information about the victim’s personal characteristics and the circumstances related to harm events, especially the most serious harm the individual has reported.

The total number of respondents in these two sets of surveys is large: over 126,000 respondents.

* Use of these countries’ data requires special permission