Alcohol, Youth, and Violence: the practical policy solutions for prevention
Robert Nash Parker
University of California

Alcohol and Violence: the nature of the relationship
Violence is caused in part by alcohol
Alcohol makes violence worse than it might be otherwise
Alcohol control and regulation can be used to prevent Violence

Research from “Alcohol and Violence:
The nature of the relationship and the
Possibility of Prevention”
Look for this new book in 2010
Preview of several chapters today

US has a uniform 21 age minimum age of legal purchase
In the 1970s, many US states had younger ages
Late 1970s to mid 1980s, all states were encouraged (forced) to adopt 21
What was the impact on violence?

Increasing the minimum age of purchase and youth homicide
Data for 49 states and DC, 1972-1993
Before and after critical period 1979-1984
First state enacted 21 (Minnesota); US
Federal Government essentially forces 21 uniformity
Broad consideration of predictors including:
Taxes on Beer
Increases in minimum age
Prices of alcohol

Increasing the minimum age of purchase and youth homicide
Results indicate:
Minimum age increase prior to 1984 decreases youth homicide
The Higher beer taxes, the lower youth homicide
Despite rising youth homicide rates during the 1972-1993 period, evidence that alcohol policy can reduce youth violence

Although alcohol is not supposed to be available to those under 21, youth are able to obtain with reliability in many communities
Studies in US show that 55% to 80% of the time, youth are able to buy alcohol directly in retail establishments
What would happen to youth violence if alcohol availability went down?

Three year study 1993-1995 in Small
Northern California Community
In the second year of the study, City decided to remove alcohol outlets in 6 neighborhoods (out of 35; 12 outlets closed)
Youth violence measured from police data for offenders and victims, 12-24

Natural experiment:
Net of other factors, the places where availability was reduced had significantly lower rates of youth violence
Causal effect powerfully demonstrated

Minimum Age of purchase is also about enforcement as well as setting minimum age and availability
Is enforcement a useful tool for prevention of youth violence?
Tested the idea with gang violence, a most difficult target for policy intervention

Using Pseudo-Under age buyer sting
21 years olds who look young
Attempt to buy after an intervention
Findings:
Only 24% successful
Neighborhoods with more successful buys had higher gang violence net of other predictors
Conclusion:
Enforcement of minimum purchase laws reduces even gang violence

Similar study in another Northern
California Community
Why would the industry spend so much money on advertising if the only impact was to get adults to switch brands?
They would not!
Purpose: Secure New Drinkers!

Alcohol Advertising and a Specific
Type of Youth Violence
Measured the content of advertising in local retail outlets with trained observers
Among the most common content:
Sexually explicit, commodifying, and exploitative ads featuring women in provocative and near pornographic poses
We measured assault and sexual assault, overall advertising and sexually explicit advertising rates

FIGURE 11

FIGURE 12

FIGURE 10

Findings:
Controlling for relevant factors:
Advertising in general did not impact assault or sexual assault
Sexually explicit advertising raised the rate of sexual assault, but not other assaults
These findings were net of overall outlet density; they were also ethnic specific
More ads with Latina models, more Latina girls were sexually assaulted

Unintended Consequences:
Alcohol prevention impacts violence
Community Trials Study
Conducted by the Prevention Research Center,
Berkeley (PIRE)
Led by Harold Holder, one of the world’s leading experts on Alcohol and Prevention
Designed to impact drunk driving, pedestrian accidents, falls, burns, fires, etc: everything but violence
Question: Did these multi faceted and coordinated interventions impact violence?

Unintended Consequences:
Alcohol Prevention Impacts violence
Time series analyses of all three experimental sites showed that:
The timing of a number of different types of interventions led to lower violent crime rates 1 to 3 months later
The volume of interventions reduced violent crime 2 to 3 months later

Alcohol related violence can be prevented
Existing regulations on Alcohol can be used to achieve substantial reductions
Many of the interventions discussed here can be achieved with little or no expenditure of funds
Why would Anyone be Opposed to this?

Look for a new book on alcohol and violence in 2010
Alcohol and Violence: The Nature of the
Relationship and the Promise of Prevention
Robert Nash Parker
Email me, robnp@aol.com
, for more information