Alcohol Availability & Violence among Inner-City Adolescents: A Multi-Level Analysis of The Role of Alcohol Outlet Density

Researchers recognize that the connection between alcohol and peer violence may relate to community level ecological factors, such as the location of businesses that sell alcohol. 

Building on previous research among adults, this study examines the relationship between alcohol outlet density and violent behaviors among adolescents, taking into account demographic characteristics, individual alcohol use, and neighborhood level socioeconomic indicators. Data drawn from a diverse Emergency Department based sample of 1,050 urban adolescents, combined with tract level data from the state liquor control commission and U.S. Census, were analyzed. 

Results of multivariate multi-level regression analysis indicate that alcohol outlet density is significantly related to adolescents' violent behaviors, controlling for demographic characteristics and individual alcohol use. Census tract level socioeconomic indicators were not significantly associated with youth violence. 

Findings suggest that alcohol outlet density regulation should be considered as part of broader violence prevention strategies for urban adolescents.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/2e4v4A

By:  Stella M. Resko, M.S.W., Ph.D.,¹ Maureen A. Walton, M.P.H., PhD,² C. Raymond Bingham, PhD,^3,4 Jean T. Shope, PhD,^3,4 Marc Zimmerman, PhD,³ Stephen T. Chermack, PhD,^2,5 Frederic C. Blow, PhD,^2,5 and Rebecca M. Cunningham, MD^3,6,7

¹Wayne State University, School of Social Work and Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, Detroit, MI

²University of Michigan Addiction Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Ann Arbor, MI

³University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI

⁴University of Michigan, Transportation Research Institute, Ann Arbor, MI

⁵Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research Evaluation Center, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI

⁶University of Michigan, Department of Emergency Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI

⁷Department of Emergency Medicine, Hurley Medical Center, Flint Michigan

Correspondence should be addressed to: Stella M. Resko, Ph.D., 4756 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI 48109. Phone (313) 577-4445, fax (313) 577-877

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Relationships Between Minimum Alcohol Pricing and Crime During the Partial Privatization of a Canadian Government Alcohol Monopoly

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to estimate the independent effects of increases in minimum alcohol prices and densities of private liquor stores on crime outcomes in British Columbia, Canada, during a partial privatization of off-premise liquor sales.

Method:

A time-series cross-sectional panel study was conducted using mixed model regression analysis to explore associations between minimum alcohol prices, densities of liquor outlets, and crime outcomes across 89 local health areas of British Columbia between 2002 and 2010. Archival data on minimum alcohol prices, per capita alcohol outlet densities, and ecological demographic characteristics were related to measures of crimes against persons, alcohol-related traffic violations, and non–alcohol-related traffic violations. Analyses were adjusted for temporal and regional autocorrelation.

Results:

A 10% increase in provincial minimum alcohol prices was associated with an 18.81% reduction in alcohol-related traffic violations, a 9.17% reduction in crimes against persons, and a 9.39% reduction in total rates of crime outcomes examined. There was no significant association between minimum alcohol prices and non–alcohol-related traffic violations. Densities of private liquor stores were not significantly associated with alcohol-involved traffic violations or crimes against persons, though they were with non–alcohol-related traffic violations.

Conclusions:

Reductions in crime events associated with minimum-alcohol-price changes were more substantial and specific to alcohol-related events than the countervailing increases in densities of private liquor stores. The findings lend further support to the application of minimum alcohol prices for public health and safety objectives.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/hqaTox

By:   Tim Stockwell, Ph.D.,^a,b,* Jinhui Zhao, Ph.D.,^a Miesha Marzell, Ph.D.,^c Paul J. Gruenewald, Ph.D.,^d Scott Macdonald,Ph.D.,^a,e William R. Ponicki, M.A.,^d & Gina Martin, M.Sc.^f

Affiliations

^aCentre for Addictions Research of British Columbia, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
^bDepartment of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
^cDepartment of Community and Behavioral Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
^dPrevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Oakland, California
^eSchool of Health Information Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
^fSchool of Medicine, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland

*Correspondence may be sent to Tim Stockwell at the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada, or via email at: timstock@uvic.ca.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2015.76.628 

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Alcohol Outlet Density and Intimate Partner Violence in a Nonmetropolitan College Town: Accounting for Neighborhood Characteristics and Alcohol Outlet Types

There is a growing evidence of an ecological association between alcohol outlet density and intimate partner violence. It is reasonable to assume, however, that not all types of alcohol outlets contribute equally to criminal behavior, and to date, most ecological studies have been of large urban cities. 

Using Bloomington, Indiana, block groups as units of analysis and controlling for several structural characteristics associated with violence rates, I estimated spatially lagged regression models to determine if the variation in alcohol outlet density, including total outlets and disaggregating by on- and off-premise outlets, is related to intimate partner violence density. 

Results suggested that total alcohol outlet density and off-premise alcohol outlet density were significantly associated with intimate partner violence density. On-premise alcohol outlet density was not significantly associated with intimate partner violence density. 

These results not only extend the geographic scope of this relationship beyond large metropolitan areas but also have important policy implications.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/JcR43C

By:   Snowden AJ.

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

 

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