Substance Use in
Southeast Indiana
TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL USE
The Assistance for Substance Abuse Prevention
(ASAP) Center works with local coordinating councils,
cooperative extension offices, young people, clergy and
others to prevent substance use in their communities.
A group of ASAP partners in the rural Southeast
Indiana counties of Dearborn, Franklin, Ohio, Ripley
and Switzerland identified a lack of data about adult
substance use as a barrier to getting their communities
to focus on substance abuse issues. The ASAP Center
partnered with the Institute for Policy Research at the
University of Cincinnati to collect reliable, high-quality
data about smoking, excessive alcohol use and the
misuse of prescription pain relievers in the five Indiana
counties it serves. This brief reports the results of the
smoking and alcohol use questions.
Tobacco and alcohol are legal drugs, but that does not
mean they are harmless.
Smoking
1 in 5 adults are
current smokers
Smoking causes lung disease, cancer
and other health problems. According
to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s (CDC) Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System
(BRFSS), about 1 in 5 (17%) adults
in the U.S. and in the state of Indiana
(21%) were current smokers in 2010.1
Both percentages were down from
previous years, but still higher than
the Healthy People 2020 goal of 12%.
Similarly, 22% of adults in Southeast
Indiana, or nearly 18,000 adults, are
current smokers. Like the state and
the nation, Southeast Indiana has
seen a decrease in the percentage of
current smokers in the last decade.
State and National data are from: Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data.
(BRFSS). (2010). Available at http://www.cdc.gov/
brfss/. Local data from 1999-2005 are from the
Greater Cincinnati Community Health Status Survey
retrieved from: https://www.healthfoundation.
org/greater-cincinnati-communityhealth-status-survey
Current adult smokers1
By county2
50%
Dearborn
28%
Ripley
40%
Ohio*
30%
19%
Franklin
31%
27%
34%
28%
23%
36%
10%
Switzerland*
30%
Indiana
27%
21%
23%
20%
22%
21%
17%
Southeast
Indiana
U.S.
10%
0%
1999
2002
2005
2010
2012
2Dearborn County N=221, 95 % C.I. ±6.6%; Ripley County N=126, 95% C.I. ±8.7%; Franklin County
N=102, 95% C.I. ±9.7%
*Sample size too small to report
1 More smoke in Dearborn,
fewer in Franklin County
About 2 in 10 adults smoke in
the state of Indiana, but there is
variation across the rural Indiana
counties that the ASAP Center
serves. Nearly 3 in 10 (28%) adults
in Dearborn County smoke,
compared with only 1 in 10 (10%)
in Franklin County.
(over)
JUNE 2012
Alcohol Use
One standard alcoholic drink is 12
ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine
or 1.5 ounces of spirits or liquor.
Drinking in moderation – or having
no more than one alcoholic drink a
day for women and no more than
two alcoholic drinks a day for men
– poses no or low risks for most
adults.3 Drinking more than that,
however, increases the risk of health
problems and aggressive behavior,
and can impair decision-making,
which can lead to accidents and
injuries.
Binge drinking1
30%
25%
20%
More in Ripley County had
no drinks in last 30 days
Drinking varies across the Southeast
Indiana counties. More than half
(55%) of adults in Franklin County
did not drink in the 30 days before
the survey, similar to the state.
However, more than 6 in 10 (63%)
adults in Ripley County did not
drink, compared with about 4 in 10
(39%) in Dearborn County.
For more information please visit the National
Institutes of Health, Rethinking Drinking web
page, available at: http://www.rethinkingdrinking.
niaaa.nih.gov/
3
16%
(16,000
adults)
18%
15%
15%
16%
14%
14%
U.S.
Indiana
By county7
10%
Dearborn
Ripley
5%
Most drank no alcohol
in the last month
More than half (51%) of adults in
Southeast Indiana did not drink
at all in the 30 days before the
survey, similar to the state (53%)
but higher than the nation (45%).
These trends have been consistent
since 2002.
Southeast
Indiana
21%
20%
24%
10%
Ohio*
Switzerland*
Franklin 7%
0%
2002
2010
2005
2012
7Dearborn County N=221, 95% C.I. ±6.6%; Ripley County N=126, 95% C.I. ±8.7%; Franklin County
N=102, 95% C.I. ±9.7%;
*Sample size too small to report
Some drink heavily
or binge drink
Heavy drinking is defined as having
more than an average of one drink
per day for a woman and two drinks
per day for a man. Based on the
most recent data, 1 in 14 adults in
Southeast Indiana (6%) drank heavily
in the 30 days before the survey,
similar to the state (4%) and the
nation (5%).5 Heavy drinking rates in
2012 were very similar in Dearborn
(7%), Franklin (7%) and Ripley (5%)
counties. (Data not shown in graph.)
Binge drinking is defined as having
four or more drinks on one occasion
for women and five or more drinks
on one occasion for men.6 People
who binge drink are not necessarily
Data on heavy drinking is available only
regionally for 2010 /11.
5
heavy drinkers. Binge drinking is a
common pattern of alcohol misuse
and greatly increases the chances
of getting hurt or hurting others
because of alcohol poisoning, car
crashes, violence and suicide.
1 in 7 adults (16%) in Southeast
Indiana binge drank in the 30 days
before the survey, similar to rates
in the state (14%) and the nation
(15%) in 2010. Binge drinking
trends have been consistent since
2002. However, nearly 1 in 4 adults
(24%) in Dearborn County reported
binge drinking, higher than regional
averages and national targets.
Before 2006, the standard for binge drinking was
having five or more drinks on one occasion for
both men and women. Since 2006, the standard
has been revised to five or more drinks on one
occasion for men and four or more drinks for
women. These data reflect the definitions of binge
drinking that were in place at the time of the
surveys.
6
These findings unless otherwise noted are from an Indiana oversample of the Greater Cincinnati Survey commissioned by The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati conducted Jan. 3-15, 2012, by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati. A random sample of 523 adults throughout Southeast Indiana in
Franklin, Ripley, Dearborn, Ohio and Switzerland counties was interviewed by telephone. In 95 of 100 cases, regional estimates will be accurate to ±4.3%. There are
other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question wording or context effects that can introduce error or bias. For more
information please visit www.healthfoundation.org/local-and-regional-surveys.
For more information about the ASAP Center’s work, please contact Mary Francis, Director, at 513-458-6606 or [email protected]. If you have questions
about the data in this document, please contact Jennifer Chubinski, Director of Community Research, at 513-458-6608 or [email protected].