Alcohol-serving Establishments Research Articles

Gun Free Zones in Alcohol-Serving Establishments and Risk for Firearm Violence: A Cross-Sectional, Geospatial Study in Texas.

To date, there have been no peer-reviewed studies in the United Statesestimating the impact of gun-free zonepolicies in alcohol-serving establishments on rates of firearm violencein and aroundsuch establishments. In this study, we utilized a cross-sectional design to estimate the impact of Texas's 51% alcohol law, which prohibits the carrying of firearms in establishments that generate over half of their revenue from alcohol sales. The analysis focused on the difference in shooting incidents in and around establishments with and without firearm carrying prohibitions in 2021 and 2022. After adjusting for establishment type (bar/restaurant), alcohol sales volume, census tract level demographic factors, and the number of nearby restaurants and bars, results indicated that gun-prohibiting bars experienced significantly fewer shootings compared to those that allowed guns. Specifically, establishments that were gun-prohibited had 37% fewer shootings within 50m than those that were gun-allowing, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 60% fewer to 0.2% fewer. This association was more prominent in bars than in restaurants. The protective association with gun-prohibited status diminished with increased distance from the establishments; results were not significant at 100m. Our study findings align with research suggesting that gun-free zones can reduce firearm violence. However, future studies using quasi-experimental designs that can better support causal inference are needed to support such a conclusion, as are studies exploring the efficacy of such policies in various settings and over longer periods.

Choosing to drive from alcohol serving establishments (ASEs).

The prevalence of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs has become a prominent factor in the occurrence of severe road crashes worldwide. Driving often occurs after visiting, and presumably drinking, at Alcohol-Serving Establishments (ASEs), and is thus of interest as a possible source of DUI events. We apply statistical and machine learning models to the Victorian Integrated Survey of Travel and Activity (VISTA) to identify factors that contribute to driving in trips from ASEs in Australia's state of Victoria. Our results highlight that approximately 10% of individuals who traveled to ASEs as car passengers switched to driving after leaving there. It was also observed that travel distance shorter than 1 km and activity duration between 3 and 4 h positively impacts the mode switching from car driver to other modes in ASEs trips. Further findings illustrate a decline in driving after midnight, with an increase in the use of public transport and taxis. Individuals prefer driving for long-distance ASEs trips and walking for short distances. Going home also increased the likelihood of driving, whereas engaging in other social activities did not. Longer stays at ASEs and leaving vehicles overnight reduce the propensity to drive, likely due to increased alcohol consumption during these times. These findings suggest behavioral adjustments that can mitigate driving under the influence. Specifically, people may walk for short-distance trips and use public transport or taxis for longer ASEs trips.

Safer Bars: A cluster-randomized effectiveness evaluation of alcohol-related sexual violence prevention through bar staff bystander training

BackgroundSexual assault is consistently associated with social contexts that support high levels of alcohol consumption such as alcohol-serving establishments (i.e., bars). The significant rates of alcohol-involved sexual assault among college students demonstrate the critical need for evidence-based efforts to reduce alcohol-involved sexual assault in this population. Although bystander approaches have demonstrated some promise for reducing alcohol-involved sexual assault, to date no published studies have examined the effectiveness of implementing bystander prevention approaches with bar staff. Given the robust evidence indicating that bars serve as hot spots for sexual aggression, interventions that improve bar staff's ability to identify and intervene in sexually aggressive situations may offer a useful approach for reducing rates of alcohol-involved sexual assault. MethodsThe Safer Bars study utilizes a cluster-randomized trial design that randomizes participants at the bar level into intervention and waitlist control arms. The sample includes bars (Nbars = 56) within a three-mile proximity to the three major public Arizona universities, with an average of 10 staff members per bar (Nstaff = 564). Assessments of individual-level and bar-level outcomes occur at baseline, training completion, and 3-months post-training, with an additional individual-level assessment at 6 months. Community-level effects are assessed using GIS data regarding police dispatches. ConclusionSafer Bars represents a novel, theory-driven approach to promote effective bystander behavior among bar staff working in close proximity to university campuses to reduce rates of alcohol-involved sexual assault.

Towards understanding and mitigating unintended biases in language model-driven conversational recommendation

Conversational Recommendation Systems (CRSs) have recently started to leverage pretrained language models (LM) such as BERT for their ability to semantically interpret a wide range of preference statement variations. However, pretrained LMs are prone to intrinsic biases in their training data, which may be exacerbated by biases embedded in domain-specific language data (e.g., user reviews) used to fine-tune LMs for CRSs. We study a simple LM-driven recommendation backbone (termed LMRec) of a CRS to investigate how unintended bias — i.e., bias due to language variations such as name references or indirect indicators of sexual orientation or location that should not affect recommendations — manifests in substantially shifted price and category distributions of restaurant recommendations. For example, offhand mention of names associated with the black community substantially lowers the price distribution of recommended restaurants, while offhand mentions of common male-associated names lead to an increase in recommended alcohol-serving establishments. While these results raise red flags regarding a range of previously undocumented unintended biases that can occur in LM-driven CRSs, there is fortunately a silver lining: we show that train side masking and test side neutralization of non-preferential entities nullifies the observed biases without significantly impacting recommendation performance.

Frequency of Visiting Alcohol-Serving Establishments, Bystander Efficacy, and Barriers to Sexual Aggression Bystander Intervention Among College Students.

Bystanders can play an important role in sexual aggression (SA) prevention, particularly those often present at bars and clubs where SA commonly occurs. Yet, more frequent patrons of bars and clubs may experience more barriers to intervening due to social norms that encourage aggression in these environments. Having greater confidence to intervene in SA may mitigate this relationship. This study examined these associations among 290 undergraduate students (Mage = 20.03; SDage = 20.03; 50% women) who completed measures of past semester bar and club attendance, bystander efficacy (i.e., confidence), and barriers to intervention. Moderation analyses using PROCESS indicated (1) a conditional main effect of bystander efficacy being associated with less failure to take intervention responsibility; (2) bar and club attendance was associated with less audience inhibition (i.e., failure to intervene due to concerns of looking foolish) among those higher (b = -0.30, p = 0.005), but not lower (b = 0.16, p = 0.183), in bystander efficacy. Bystander training programs should consider specifically targeting college students who attend bars and clubs more frequently, as they likely have more intervention opportunities, and provide them with skills to confidently intervene in SA while socializing in those settings.

Geo-Locating and Identifying Wrong-Way Driving Entrance Points in Bexar County Highways by Implementing Mathematical Modeling and Land-Use Impact Assessment

Wrong-way driving (WWD) leads to high severity crashes and is a major concern for transportation managers. This study aims to identify WWD entry points of urban highway ramps and develop an analysis methodology using basic knowledge of WWD occurrences. The methodology examines the origin and driving behavior of impaired drivers by utilizing a land-use impact assessment (alcohol-serving establishments (ASE) proximity to exit ramps) and analyzing three distinct mathematical models: wrong-way driving events excluding 911 call analysis, wrong-way driving events including 911 call analysis, and 911 calls without wrong-way driving crashes. Data were collected and implemented from Google Maps, the 911 call database, wrong-way crash database, ASE location database, and a video camera database of a recent WWD study. Out of a total 543 exit ramps, 213 exit ramps are associated with approximately 98% of total WWD entries. The hotspots analysis of WWD entrance locations have found four major hotspots locations in Bexar County, Texas study area: 410 Loop near Culebra Road and Jackson Keller Road, 1604 Loop near US-281 highway, and IH-10 near the Medical Drive area. Outcomes of this study include a methodology for determining WWD entry locations of regional highways.

Results of a Randomized Trial of Web-Based Retail Onsite Responsible Beverage Service Training: WayToServe

Research in Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) training indicates that such training can prevent over-service of alcohol and reduce drunk driving. However, reviews of the RBS literature suggest that the quality of training methods and the stability of implementation are important factors in determining RBS training effectiveness. Most RBS classes have been taught live, where the quality of instruction varies across instructors and classes, and the stability of the implementation of an RBS curriculum is variable. Web-based RBS training may carry important advantages by stabilizing instruction and implementation factors. Randomized trial results of a web-based onsite RBS training program (WayToServe® [WTS]) are reported here. It was hypothesized that servers trained by WTS would refuse alcohol service at significantly higher rates compared with Usual and Customary (UC) live training. On-site alcohol-serving establishments in New Mexico communities were randomized to receive WTS training (n = 154) or the Usual and Customary live RBS training (n = 155). Premises were assessed at baseline, immediate post-training, 6-months post-training, and 1-year post-training intervals. Pseudo-intoxicated patron protocols were used to assess premise alcohol service during the early to mid-evening hours of 6:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M., with the percentage of alcohol service refusals to apparently intoxicated pseudo-patrons as the primary outcome variable. Results indicate significantly higher refusal rates for WTS than for UC premises at the immediate (WTS = 68% vs. UC = 49%) and the 1-year post-training assessment points (WTS = 68% vs. UC = 58%) but not at the 6-month post-training assessment (WTS = 69% vs. UC = 64%). Differences in refusal rates based on pseudo-patron age were observed where younger pseudo-patrons were consistently refused more often than older pseudo-patrons. Effective RBS training can be delivered online, making it a potentially cost-effective way of reaching large alcohol server populations.

Factors Predicting Local Effectiveness of Impaired Driving Laws, British Columbia, Canada.

In 2010, British Columbia introduced laws allowing police to suspend licenses and impound vehicles of drinking drivers based on roadside breath alcohol analysis results. This study examines regional variation in the effectiveness of the new laws and identifies local factors that may have modified the laws' effectiveness. First, we used an interrupted time series design with a negative binomial mixed model to study the change in rate of single-vehicle nighttime crashes (SVNCs; a proxy for alcohol-related crashes) in each of British Columbia's 118 police patrols after the laws were introduced. Next, the role of explanatory factors was studied using patrol-level estimated percent reduction in SVNCs as the response variable in a linear regression model with spatially autocorrelated errors that included explanatory factors as covariates. The average rate of SVNCs across police patrols was 12% lower (95% CI [9.1%, 14.8%]) following the new laws, and all police patrols included in our model had estimated reductions in SVNCs. Reductions in SVNCs were positively associated with the number of alcohol-serving establishments per capita and with socioeconomic status and were negatively associated with baseline rates of traffic citations. The laws were associated with improved road safety across the province but were least effective in more socioeconomically disadvantaged regions. Increased effectiveness in regions with more alcohol-serving establishments may have indicated a specific deterrent effect on drinking drivers who frequent these establishments. The laws were also more effective in regions with lower baseline traffic law enforcement (i.e., lower citation rates), perhaps because media reports about the immediate roadside penalties regime created unease in drinking drivers who previously knew that their risk of punishment for traffic law violations was low.

Unanticipated Consequences

Among scholars, there is a discussion regarding whether types of places, or facilities, function as crime generators or whether the association between some categories of facilities and higher rates of offending is the result of a small proportion of all facilities within a given category, or problem places. This study seeks to further inform this debate by exploring whether policy changes that alter the social functioning of a category of facilities, specifically bars and taverns, modifies the spatial association with crime. Using routine activities theory as a framework, this study builds on previous research by exploring the association between alcohol-serving establishments and violent crimes, specifically assaults, following the implementation of a smoke-free law. Using data from a pair of adjoining communities in Iowa, findings indicate the frequency of reported assaults on blocks with bars as well as on adjoining blocks declined following the implementation of a law prohibiting smoking tobacco products within bars and taverns. Implications for policies and future research are discussed.

Beliefs about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder among men and women at alcohol serving establishments in South Africa

Background: South Africa has one of the highest rates of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in the world. However, little is known about what men and women who attend alcohol serving establishments believe about alcohol use during pregnancy and how these beliefs may be related to alcohol use. Objectives: To understand FASD beliefs and related behaviors among men and women attending alcohol-serving establishments. Methods: We surveyed 1047 men (n = 565) and women (n = 482) -including pregnant women and men with pregnant partners- attending alcohol serving establishments in a township located in Cape Town, South Africa. Results: Among both pregnant (n = 53) and non-pregnant (n = 429) women, 54% reported drinking alcohol at least 2–4 times per month, and 57% reported having at least 3–4 alcohol drinks during a typical drinking session. Pregnant women were less likely to believe that they should not drink alcohol and that alcohol can harm a fetus when compared to non-pregnant women. Similar findings were observed between men with pregnant partners compared to men without pregnant partners. Among women, beliefs about how much alcohol pregnant women can safely drink were associated with self-reported alcohol use. Conclusions: Efforts to address FASD need to focus on understanding how men and women perceive alcohol use during pregnancy and situational factors that contribute to alcohol consumption among pregnant women attending alcohol serving establishments. Structural and individual-level interventions targeting women at alcohol serving establishments should be prioritized to mitigate alcohol use during pregnancy.

Randomized community-level HIV prevention intervention trial for men who drink in South African alcohol-serving venues

South African alcohol-serving establishments (i.e., shebeens) offer unique opportunities to reduce HIV risks among men who drink. To test an individual- and a social structural-level HIV prevention intervention for men who drink in shebeens. Twelve matched pairs of township neighbourhoods were randomized to receive either (i) an HIV prevention intervention (guided by Social Action Theory) to reduce sexual risk and increase risk reduction communication in social networks, or (ii) an attention-matched control intervention that focused on the prevention of relationship violence. At the individual level, the interventions delivered skills building workshops focused on sexual risk reduction. At the social structural level, the intervention aimed to increase conversations about safer sex among men in the shebeens, distributed small media and implemented community educational events. Individual-level outcomes were assessed by following the workshop cohorts for 1 year (N = 984), and community-level outcomes were examined through cross-sectional community surveys conducted for 1 year in the shebeens (N = 9,678). Men in the HIV prevention workshops demonstrated greater condom use, more HIV prevention-oriented conversations and greater perceptions of safer sex norms than men in the comparison workshops. Changes at the community level demonstrated significant differences in condom use, although the pattern was not consistent over time. Multi-level interventions that target men who drink in South African shebeens may help reduce risks for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Food insecurity and alcohol use among pregnant women at alcohol-serving establishments in South Africa.

South Africa has the highest rate of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in the world. While efforts have been made to curb the high rate of FAS, little is known about situational factors that may contribute to alcohol use during pregnancy. In the current paper, we focus on the role of food insecurity and its relationship to alcohol use among pregnant women. Women completed computer-assisted interviews. Generalized linear modeling was used in all analyses. Women attending alcohol-serving establishments in a township in Cape Town, South Africa were recruited for the study. Five hundred sixty women were sampled and 95 women reported being pregnant. High levels of alcohol use were reported among pregnant women: 65% of women consumed alcohol at least every month and 29% consumed alcohol as often as two to three times per week. Thirty-four percent of the women reported having six or more drinks per occasion on at least a weekly basis. The majority (87%) of pregnant women reported experiencing some form of food insecurity (e.g., food unavailable, eating less) in the past month. Alcohol use was significantly associated with food insecurity, even when controlling for relevant demographic variables. Intervention with pregnant women who consume alcohol is urgently needed. Future research should focus on understanding the intersection of food insecurity and alcohol, and how the experience of food insecurity may contribute to greater rates of alcohol use and abuse among pregnant women.

Extending the Hours of Operation of Alcohol Serving Establishments

On May 11, 2009, the City of San Marcos, Texas adopted an ordinance that allowed local bars to extend their hours of operation from midnight until 2 a.m. The objective of this initiative, which went into effect on June 4, 2009, was to minimize the problems that arise from the consumption of alcohol. The present investigation uses interrupted time series autoregressive integrated moving average [ARIMA]) modeling techniques to analyze weekly data to assess the impact of the ordinance, along with a limited increase in patrol strength in the downtown district, on the number of calls for service involving verbal disturbances, physical disturbances, public intoxication, and driving under the influence of alcohol. Overall, the interrupted time series analyses indicate that neither the city council’s nor the police department’s strategies for mitigating some of the negative consequences of the consumption of alcoholic beverages in bars and taverns were successful. The implications of these findings for lessening alcohol-related conflicts between bar patrons and other residents of the community are discussed.

Bringing it home: community survey of HIV risks to primary sex partners of men and women in alcohol-serving establishments in Cape Town, South Africa

BackgroundConcurrent sexual relationships facilitate the spread of HIV infection, and sex with non-primary partners may pose particularly high risks for HIV transmission to primary partners.ObjectiveWe examined the sexual and alcohol-related...

Environmental Correlates with Violent Injury

Violence is a significant contributor to the global burden of injury, posing a public health challenge. With the goal of informing policy decisions, this work uses a combination of GIS and environmental scans to identify features of the built environment that correlate with areas of high violent injury incidence. Hotspots in the Metro Vancouver area were identified using kernel density estimation. Possible environmental correlates to violent injury were culled from a detailed literature review; teams then travelled to each hotspot to record which of the correlates were present (e.g., alcohol-serving establishments, high density housing). Several suspected features of the built urban environment were found to be present in the majority of hotspots, the most prevalent being alcohol-serving establishments. Using the Vancouver Area Neighbourhood Deprivation Index, a high proportion of hotspots were found to be in or near socially deprived neighbourhoods. However, the findings suggest that violent injury is a geographically complex phenomenon whose links to the built environment are multiscalar and varied. First steps are taken towards developing profiles of violent urban spaces, with ultimate goal of making our cities safer physical and social spaces.

HIV Risks Associated with Patronizing Alcohol Serving Establishments in South African Townships, Cape Town

Alcohol use has been closely linked with HIV risk behaviors in South Africa. The places where people drink are often the same settings in which they meet new sex partners and may contribute independently to sexual risk. This current study examines the independent effects of patronizing alcohol serving establishments (shebeens) and alcohol use in predicting HIV risk behaviors. Men (n = 981) and women (n = 492) were recruited from inside shebeens and surrounding areas proximal to shebeens in eight separate neighborhoods in a Township in Cape Town, South Africa. Anonymous community surveys measured demographic characteristics, alcohol use, shebeen attendance, and sexual risk behaviors. Comparisons of 1210 (82%) participants who patronized shebeens in the past month with 263 (18%) participants who did not patronize shebeens demonstrated higher rates of alcohol use frequency and quantity, more sexual partners, and higher rates of vaginal intercourse without condoms for the patrons. Multiple linear regression analysis found shebeen attendance in the past month predicted greater sexual risk for HIV beyond demographic characteristics and alcohol use. Social influences and environmental factors in shebeens could be contributing to sexual risk behavior independently of alcohol consumption. Further research is needed to understand the environmental factors of shebeens that promote and influence HIV risk behaviors.

How drunk am I? Misperceiving one's level of intoxication in the college drinking environment.

One effective event-level index that can assist in identifying risky intoxication levels among college students is blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Despite widespread exposure to BAC information, doubt exists as to whether American college students can accurately estimate their own BAC level or drinking behaviors while intoxicated. This study assessed whether students can accurately guesstimate their BAC level and drinking behaviors used to estimate BAC (eBAC) while drinking in social college settings. Participants (N = 225; 56.4% male) consisted of emerging adults attending either a 2- or 4-year college who had at least one alcoholic drink within the 2 hr before assessment. Participants were approached at night when returning from parties and/or alcohol-serving establishments. They completed an initial questionnaire, gave a breath sample to assess breath alcohol content, and then completed an online follow-up questionnaire within 48 hr of baseline assessment. Participants at lower levels of intoxication tended to slightly overestimate their BAC level, while those at higher levels tended to markedly underestimate their BAC level. In addition, discrepancies among breath alcohol content, guesstimated BAC, and eBAC were found as a function of gender. Lastly, differences in eBAC scores did not differ when drinking behaviors were obtained via in vivo versus retrospective methodology. Findings suggest that college students generally have difficulty assessing their BAC level and drinking behaviors while drinking in the college social setting. This study offers particular insight for research relying on estimates of BAC as well as interventions utilizing BAC education.

A Syndemic Analysis of Alcohol Use and Sexual Risk Behavior Among Tourism Employees in Sosúa, Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic has high rates of HIV infection and alcohol consumption. Unfortunately, little research has been focused on the broader sources of the synergy between these two health outcomes. We draw on syndemic theory to argue that alcohol consumption and sexual risk behavior are best analyzed within the context of culture and economy in Caribbean tourism spaces, which produce a synergy between apparently independent outcomes. We sampled 32 men and women working in the tourism industry at alcohol-serving establishments in Sosúa, Dominican Republic. Interviewees described alcohol consumption as an implicit requirement of tourism work, tourism industry business practices that foster alcohol consumption, and an intertwining relationship between alcohol and sexual commerce. The need to establish relationships with tourists, combined with the overconsumption of alcohol, contributed to a perceived loss of sexual control, which participants felt could impede condom use. Interventions should incorporate knowledge of the social context of tourism areas to mitigate the contextual factors that contribute to HIV infection and alcohol consumption among locals.

Regulation of smoking in public venues

During the past decade, many countries have adopted smoking bans to protect patrons and workers from secondhand smoke (SHS) in restaurants and other alcohol-serving establishments. Without the protection of such bans, employees of bars and restaurants in comparison with all other occupational groups have the highest levels of exposure to SHS. One of the initiators of smoking prohibitions in bars was California in the United States. The impetus for promulgation of the California law came about as a result of concerns about the potential adverse health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke. Levels of SHS exposure among U.S. nonsmokers have fallen substantially in the past two decades. Nevertheless, millions of nonsmokers in all countries worldwide remain exposed to SHS in workplaces and public spaces. Public health policies aim to increase the protection of all nonsmokers from this potential serious health hazard in alcohol-serving establishments and restaurants through promotion of smoke-free (SF) legislation. In July 1994, California passed Labor Code 6413.5, which stated general provisions for the responsibilities of employers regarding exposure of employees to SHS in most work settings. On 1stJanuary 1998, the code extended SF protection to workers in restaurants, bars, and gaming facilities not under the control of sovereign Native American tribes. This expanded regulation became known as the Smoke- Free Bars Law. Initially, proprietors of alcohol-serving establishments in California expressed concern that they would lose substantial numbers of customers who smoked. Yet, patrons have continued to support smoke-free establishments and no significant negative financial impacts from the law have ensued. California's success and growing endorsement of this legislation was followed by the introduction of similar laws in other states and, eventually, diffusion into the international realm. Implementation of comprehensive smoke-free policies in alcohol-serving establishments is on the rise internationally. A summary of comprehensive smoking bans in eight European countries plus New Zealand is as follows: Ireland: On 29th March 2004, smoking bans included restaurants and pubs, with no provisions for designated smoking rooms. Before this ban, Ireland had prohibited smoking in public buildings, schools, hospitals, aircraft, and some trains. Finland: In March 2000, Finnish legislators amended their Tobacco Control Act of 1995 to include prohibitions of smoking in restaurants and bars. The Act was later amended on 1st July 2003, to allow smoking in establishments with structurally isolated designated areas. Norway: A 1988 law banned smoking in public buildings, workplaces, and public transportation facilities in Norway. This law was later expanded to a total ban on smoking in all restaurants, bars and cafes as of 1stJune 2004. New Zealand: The country's 2003 Smoke-Free Environments Amendment Act (SEAA) banned smoking in offices, retail workplaces, bars, casinos, members' clubs, restaurants, and nearly all other work establishments as of 10th December 2004. Scotland: The Smoking, Health and Social Care Act of 2005 banned smoking in enclosed or substantially enclosed public places including pubs and restaurants; this bill was enforced beginning in March 2006. …

HIV/AIDS Risks among Men and Women Who Drink at Informal Alcohol Serving Establishments (Shebeens) in Cape Town, South Africa

HIV/AIDS is devastating southern Africa and the spread of HIV is fueled in some populations by alcohol use. Alcohol serving establishments, such as informal drinking places or shebeens, often serve as high-risk venues for HIV transmission. The current study examined the HIV risks of men (N = 91) and women (N = 248) recruited from four shebeens in a racially integrating township in Cape Town South Africa. Participants completed confidential measures of demographic characteristics, HIV risk history, alcohol and drug use, and HIV risk behaviors. Comparisons of 94 (28%) participants who reported meeting sex partners at shebeens to the remaining sample of shebeen goers, controlling for potential confounds, demonstrated a pattern of higher risk for HIV infection among persons who met sex partners at shebeens. Few differences, however, were observed between men (N = 47) and women (N = 47) who had met sex partners at shebeens, suggesting greater gender similarities than gender differences in this important subpopulation. These results indicate an urgent need for multi-level HIV prevention interventions targeting shebeens and the men and women who drink in these settings.