Lowering the drinking age: The New Zealand example

降低饮酒年龄：新西兰的例子

• 批准号: 6810433
• 负责人: ROBERT B VOAS
• 金额: $ 12.69万
• 依托单位: PACIFIC INSTITUTE FOR RES AND EVALUATION
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-01 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6810433
• 关键词: New Zealand; adolescence (12-20); age difference; alcoholic beverage consumption; behavioral /social science research tag; clinical research; driving while intoxicated; epidemiology; health care facility information system; hospital utilization; human data; information systems; injury; legal /correctional; substance abuse related behavior; transportation /recreation safety; vehicular accident; young adult human (21-34)

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In September 2003, a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee on Developing a Strategy to Reduce and Prevent Underage Drinking released a report requested by Congress stating that the societal cost of underage drinking in the United States is estimated to be $53 billion per year. The report notes, "The committee conducted its work within the current national policy establishing 21 as the minimum legal drinking age in every state." Despite the fact that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration claims that the minimum legal drinking age laws save 900 lives a year, there is still considerable controversy over their effectiveness: 45 states have exceptions to their minor-in-possession laws and 5 states have legislation that would immediately lower their drinking age to 18 if Congress fails to extend the Uniform Drinking Age Act. In December 1999, New Zealand lowered its drinking age from 20 to 18, providing the best opportunity in the last quarter century to examine the affect of such an increase. The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation and the University of Otago in New Zealand are joining in an R21 application to conduct a secondary analysis of drinking age change. New Zealand has unusually complete national, crash, police, and hospital records with ICD9 codes that contain data on the affected age groups. In addition, the university has access to two national alcohol surveys before and after the law changed. Changes in three major domains--alcohol consumption and problems, traffic and nontraffic injuries, and highway crashes--will be analyzed to determine whether alcohol-related problems increased for the affected 18- and 19-year-old drivers in comparison to a 20- to 24-year-old comparison group.

2003年9月，美国国家科学院（NAS）制定减少和预防未成年人饮酒战略委员会应国会要求发布了一份报告，指出美国未成年人饮酒的社会成本估计为每年530亿美元。报告指出，“委员会在现行国家政策范围内开展工作，在每个州将21岁定为最低法律的饮酒年龄。“尽管国家公路交通安全管理局声称，最低法律的饮酒年龄法律每年挽救900人的生命，但对其有效性仍存在相当大的争议：45个州对未成年人拥有法律有例外，5个州有立法，如果国会未能延长《统一饮酒年龄法》，将立即将饮酒年龄降低到18岁。1999年12月，新西兰将饮酒年龄从20岁降低到18岁，这是过去25世纪来审查饮酒年龄提高的影响的最佳机会。太平洋研究和评估研究所和新西兰奥塔哥大学正在加入R21应用程序，对饮酒年龄变化进行二次分析。新西兰拥有异常完整的国家，事故，警察和医院记录，其中包含有关受影响年龄组的数据。此外，该大学还可以在法律修改前后进行两次全国酒精调查。三个主要领域的变化-酒精消费和问题，交通和非交通伤害，以及高速公路碰撞-将进行分析，以确定与20至24岁的对照组相比，受影响的18岁和19岁司机的酒精相关问题是否增加。