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.

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By:   Snowden AJ.

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

 

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Epidemiology of Sexually Transmitted Infections among Offenders Following Arrest or Incarceration

We sought to estimate rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among criminal offenders in the 1 year after arrest or release from incarceration.

We performed a retrospective cohort study of risk of having a positive STI (chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis) or incident-positive HIV test in the 1 year following arrest or incarceration in Marion County (Indianapolis), Indiana. Participants were 247 211 individuals with arrest or incarceration in jail, prison, or juvenile detention between 2003 and 2008.

Test positivity rates (per 100 000 and per year) were highest for chlamydia (2968) and gonorrhea (2305), and lower for syphilis (278) and HIV (61). Rates of positive STI and HIV were between 1.5 and 2.8 times higher in female than male participants and between 2.7 and 6.9 times higher for Blacks than Whites. Compared with nonoffenders, offenders had a relative risk of 3.9 for chlamydia, 6.6 for gonorrhea, 3.6 for syphilis, and 4.6 for HIV.

The 1-year period following arrest or release from incarceration represents a high-impact opportunity to reduce STI and HIV infection rates at a population level.

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By: Wiehe SE1, Rosenman MB1, Aalsma MC1, Scanlon ML1, Fortenberry JD1.

• 1Sarah E. Wiehe, Marc B. Rosenman, and Michael L. Scanlon are with Children's Health Services Research, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis. Sarah E. Wiehe and Marc B. Rosenman are also with Regenstrief Institute Inc, Indianapolis. Matthew C. Aalsma and J. Dennis Fortenberry are with Section of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine.  

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