Table 2.

Sociodemographic characteristics and prevalence (%) of risk factors and knowledge variables

Sociodemographic characteristics	Current study (n=3430)		Comparative national data
	Proportion (%) of participants (weighted)	Proportion (%) of participants (unweighted)	Proportion (%) of participants
Sex
Female	49	49	51
Male	51	52	49
Age range (years)
18–30	24	15	24
31–45	24	20	27
46–60	26	27	24
61+	26	37	25
Level of education
Secondary school or less	27	28	40
Some tertiary education or completed vocational training	34	33	33
Finished university (bachelor degree or higher)	38	37	26
Level of disadvantage (deciles)
Decile 1–3 (most disadvantaged)	20	21	29
Decile 4–7 (mid)	41	40	40
Decile 8–10 (least disadvantaged)	38	39	31
Employment status
Work full or part time	60	55	62
Not currently working/retired	39	45	38
English main spoken language at home
Yes	92	94	78
No	8	6	22
SSB every day causes health problems in adults
Not likely	20	22
Somewhat/very likely	80	78
SSB every day causes health problems in children
Not likely	10	11
Somewhat/very likely	90	89
Sugary drink consumption per week
None	52	56	69
1–6 times	34	30
7+ times	14	13
Body mass index (BMI)
≤25	46	43	37
>25	50	53	63
Don’t know	4	4

Note: Comparisons of sex, age, education, employment status and language spoken at home were made with data sourced from the ABS.⁵¹ Where possible data were compared with adults aged 18+ years (age), in some cases, comparisons were made with adults aged 20+ years (gender, education and employment status) or all adults 15+ years (disadvantage and language spoken at home). Sugary drink consumption comparison was based on data from the 2011–2012 Australian Health Survey⁹ for adults aged 19+ years and pertained to consumption on the day prior to the interview, whereas in the current study, usual consumption was assessed. BMI comparison was based on data from the National Health Survey 2014–2015 for adults aged 18+ years.⁵²

SSB, sugar-sweetened beverage.