Commentary on Fitzpatrick and colleagues (2012): Forecasting the effect of the amethyst initiative on college drinking.
Commentary on Fitzpatrick and colleagues (2012): Forecasting the effect of the amethyst initiative on college drinking.
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Fitzpatrick 及其同事的评论（2012）：预测紫水晶倡议对大学饮酒的影响。
DOI：
10.1111/j.1530-0277.2012.01914.x
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发表时间：
2012
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Fell,JamesC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Voas,RobertB;Fell,JamesC
大量证据表明，严重的间歇性饮酒（HED）在大学生中是一个严重的问题。出于对这一问题的关注，135位大学校长签署了紫水晶倡议（Amethyst Initiative），该倡议旨在推动将最低法定饮酒年龄从21岁降至18岁。紫水晶倡议组织声称，现行的21岁以下的MLDA鼓励未成年大学生在无人监督的场所饮酒，他们对学生饮酒的标准水平产生了误解，从而导致过度饮酒或HED。Fitzpatrick和他的同事（2012）在这一问题上的研究挑战了这一假设，他们对比了对饮酒标准误解的潜在减少，以及如果最低饮酒摄入量降低到18，预期会增加的消费量。方法：本评论将Fitzpatrick研究置于MLDA的更大背景下，注意到充分考虑降低MLDA需要包括18 - 20岁的非大学青年和15 - 17岁的高中生，他们将通过18岁的同龄人增加接触酒精的机会。结果研究表明，如果最低每日饮酒量降低，15 - 20岁青少年的饮酒量及其相关问题会增加。这篇评论还指出了不需要降低MLDA的减少大学生HED的替代策略。结论虽然大学生酗酒是一个严重的问题，但降低饮酒年龄不太可能有效。相反，它会增加更年轻的高中生面临酒精问题的风险。
BackgroundThere is considerable evidence that heavy episodic drinking (HED) is a serious problem among college students. Concern with this problem has led 135 college presidents to endorse the Amethyst Initiative, which promotes the lowering of the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) from 21 to 18. The Amethyst Initiative claims that the current MLDA of 21 encourages underage college students to drink in unsupervised locations where they adopt misconceptions regarding the normative level of student drinking that leads to excessive consumption or HED. The study by Fitzpatrick and colleagues (2012) in this issue challenges this hypothesis by contrasting the potential reduction in misapprehension of the drinking norm against the increase in consumption that would be expected if the MLDA was lowered to 18.MethodsThis commentary places the Fitzpatrick study within the larger context of the MLDA, noting that full consideration of the lowering the MLDA requires the inclusion of 18‐ to 20‐year‐old noncollege youths in the work force and 15‐ to 17‐year‐old high school students who will have increased access to alcohol through their 18‐year‐old peers.ResultsResearch suggests that alcohol consumption and its associated problems will increase for 15‐ to 20‐year‐olds if the MLDA was lowered. This commentary also identifies alternative strategies for reducing college student HED that do not require lowering the MLDA.ConclusionsAlthough college binge drinking is a significant problem, reducing the drinking age is unlikely to be effective. Instead, it will increase the risk of alcohol problems faced by even younger high school students.