Alcohol policies to prevent and reduce youth violence exposure



 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed application, submitted in response to CDC RFA-CE-15-001 'Research Grants for Preventing Violence and Violence Related Injury (R01)' seeks to rigorously evaluate structural interventions focused specifically on alcohol policies for the primary prevention of youth violence in US-based children and adolescents. Specifically we focus our study on the relationship between alcohol outlet density (a structural/environmental factor) and changes in the alcohol environment due to alcohol policies (e.g., tax increases and Sunday sales restrictions) on subsequent rates of youth violence in a cross-section of 10 U.S. States that are Alcohol Beverage Control States and have publically available data on youth violence perpetration. We provide a more in-depth analysis in 1 state to examine the mediating role of policy enforcement and changes in overall community disorder/disadvantage. There is a sizable body of literature demonstrating that the alcohol environment impacts community violence and other forms of interpersonal violence among adults, e.g., physical assaults (e.g., Franklin et al., 2010; Gorman et al., 1998; Gorman et al., 2001, Jennings et al., 2014). Far less research has been conducted that specifically examines structural interventions related to the alcohol environment as a means to prevent and reduce youth violence and have predominantly been limited to studies of changing the minimum drinking age in Europe (Toomey and Wagenaar, 1999; Callaghan, et al., 2014; Kypri, et al., 2014). The proposed research provides a unique opportunity to examine the overall impact of alcohol outlets and structural interventions designed to reduce alcohol outlet density and availability on youth violence. We also explore the potential mediating role of overall neighborhood disorder, a known correlate of increased alcohol outlet density. This study will evaluate the impact of alcohol outlet density and structural interventions on violence perpetrated by children and adolescents. To our knowledge, this would provide the first comprehensive evaluation that identifies this relationship among children and adolescents. The Specific Aims of this research are to: Aim 1: Determine the extent to which youth violence co-varies as a function of alcohol outlet density and policies designed to regulate and reduce alcohol outlet density, availability and access in a national sample. Aim 2: Examine the longitudinal relationship (from 2004-2012) between alcohol outlet density and availability on youth violence in national sample. We will examine the mediating role of alcohol policies and overall community characteristics, and examine the moderating role of baseline alcohol outlet density. Aim 3: Evaluate the impact of structural interventions to restrict alcohol outlet density and availability and corresponding enforcement strategies on youth violence in Maryland, a semi-alcohol beverage controls state with several recent and historical legislative policies related to alcohol that are theorized to impact AODA and subsequent rates of youth violence.