Alcohol Outlets in a Neighborhood Influence Alcohol-Related Problems Among Youth

A new study that will be appearing in the March 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, indicates that a neighborhood's alcohol environment plays a role in regulating the risks that youth and young adults will be exposed to.

Researchers have discovered that the pattern of alcohol-related injuries among underage youth and young adults is not random. Rather, it is shaped by the density and type of alcohol outlets that exist in the neighborhood. These injuries include accidents, automobile crashes and assaults. For the study, researchers obtained non-public hospital discharge data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development on underage youth (18- to 20-year-olds) and young adult (21- to 29-year-olds).

Paul J. Gruenewald, senior research scientist at the Prevention Research Center and corresponding author for the study, commented on the study's findings: "Over the past four decades, public health researchers have come to recognize that although most drinkers safely purchase and enjoy alcohol from alcohol outlets, these places are also associated with serious alcohol-related problems among young people and adults."

Richard Scribner, D'Angelo Professor of Alcohol Research at the LSU School of Public Health, added: "In the early studies, researchers believed associations were due to increased alcohol consumption related to higher alcohol outlet densities.

"However, as the research area has matured, the relations appear to be far more complex. It seems that alcohol outlets represent an important social institution within a neighborhood. As a result, their effects are not limited to merely the consequences of the sale of alcohol."

(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)

Labels: alcohol, teen drinking

posted by Aspen Education Group @ 8:26 AM