Alcohol Vendors Research Articles

Using iterative random forest to find geospatial environmental and Sociodemographic predictors of suicide attempts.

Despite a recent global decrease in suicide rates, death by suicide has increased in the United States. It is therefore imperative to identify the risk factors associated with suicide attempts to combat this growing epidemic. In this study, we aim to identify potential risk factors of suicide attempt using geospatial features in an Artificial intelligence framework. We use iterative Random Forest, an explainable artificial intelligence method, to predict suicide attempts using data from the Million Veteran Program. This cohort incorporated 405,540 patients with 391,409 controls and 14,131 attempts. Our predictive model incorporates multiple climatic features at ZIP-code-level geospatial resolution. We additionally consider demographic features from the American Community Survey as well as the number of firearms and alcohol vendors per 10,000 people to assess the contributions of proximal environment, access to means, and restraint decrease to suicide attempts. In total 1,784 features were included in the predictive model. Our results show that geographic areas with higher concentrations of married males living with spouses are predictive of lower rates of suicide attempts, whereas geographic areas where males are more likely to live alone and to rent housing are predictive of higher rates of suicide attempts. We also identified climatic features that were associated with suicide attempt risk by age group. Additionally, we observed that firearms and alcohol vendors were associated with increased risk for suicide attempts irrespective of the age group examined, but that their effects were small in comparison to the top features. Taken together, our findings highlight the importance of social determinants and environmental factors in understanding suicide risk among veterans.

Control, power, and responsibility: a qualitative study of local perspectives on problem drinking in Peruvian Andean highlands

BackgroundAlcohol control has emerged as an important global health challenge due to the expanding influence of alcohol companies and limited control measures imposed by governments. In the Peruvian Andean highland, the ritual function of collective drinking is reported to have been weakened in response to the increased availability of alcohol and the experience of political violence. This study seeks to merge the broader political economy with local experience and culture to provide a deeper understanding of the dynamic between global processes and local realities.MethodsWe used purposive sampling to recruit participants. We conducted in-depth interviews (n = 28) and focus group discussions (n = 19) with community participants, teachers, health workers, alcohol vendors and police officers. Thematic analysis identified patterns of individual and collective meaning situated in relation to social, political and economic factors.ResultsLocal perspectives and behaviour regarding loss of control over alcohol are shaped through the complex patterns of power and meaning exerted and experienced by different actors. Participants’ emphasis on parents’ lack of control over alcohol use by “abandoned” children reflects the structural vulnerability of some Andean families struggling with economic hardships. Participants also emphasized how alcohol consumption was tied to forms of control exerted by men in households. Participants expressed that some men demonstrated their masculine identity and symbolic power as the breadwinner through spending on alcohol. The third emphasis was tied to the market economy. Participants expressed that the expansion of the alcohol market and perceived absence of government control coupled with macroeconomic conditions, like poverty, shaped patterns of alcohol consumption.ConclusionOur findings illustrate how problem drinking is shaped not simply by an individual drinker’s lack of self-control but also by a regulatory environment that enables the unrestrained marketing of alcohol products and the creation of a culture of consumption. Harmful consumption is mediated by the reshaping of the Andean cultural practice of collective drinking. Attending to local perspectives is essential for policies and interventions that connect structural dynamics with the cultural and experiential aspects of alcohol consumption.

The space-time compression of Tokyo street drinking

ABSTRACT In postwar Japan vast black market districts surrounded urban commuter train stations with warrens of small-scale retail, food and alcohol vendors. Most were bulldozed during the period of high economic growth and replaced with modern shopping centers. Only a few of these dense, lively pedestrian alleyways survived into the 21st century, including the one called “Willow Alley” described in this paper. Recently there has been a widespread revival of these vintage yokochō. Still as spaces for drinking and eating, the forced intimacy in these cramped interstitial spaces fosters sociability and association among strangers, but with changes in recent years. One trend is the opening up of windowless doors and walls and the use of the alleyway itself as a space of eating and drinking. Another is their transformation from semi-private male-oriented bars to more welcoming mixed-gender venues. In general, the case study shows how both historical legacies and the spatial organization and scale of public drinking streets influence the forms of sociability and community that are sustained there.

Crime in an Affluent City: Applications of Risk Terrain Modeling for Residential and Vehicle Burglary in Coral Gables, Florida, 2004–2016

Risk Terrain Modeling (RTM) — an innovative geospatial approach to analyze the locations of high crime areas within cities— was used to analyze criminogenic spaces and identify the riskiest places contributing to vehicle and residential burglary in the city of Coral Gables, Florida from 2004 to 2016. Official crime incident data on residential and vehicle burglary were provided by the Coral Gables Police Department. We investigated the role of environmental predictors of crime by analyzing the effects of the designated riskiest places including alcohol vendors, car dealers, gas stations, bars, secondary/post-secondary schools, grocery stores, and restaurants. We identified risky places and their proximity to the occurrence of residential and vehicle burglary with a regression process using the RTM technique to determine the Relative Risk Values (i.e., weighted risk) that each risk factor had. We examined different temporal designations, including day and night, day of the week, and monthly intervals. Our results indicated that restaurants and grocery stores located in the downtown area and along the US 1 highway were higher risk locations for the occurrence of both types of crime throughout the city. The locations of risky places in the study area were spatially consistent with high crime areas, supporting our main hypothesis. The use of RTM with targeted community policing strategies could move policy from a reactionary approach to more proactive solutions to crime prevention. Concepts drawn from routine activity theory, as well as crime and place perspectives, both receive moderate empirical support for vehicle and residential burglary outcomes.

Brewing Alcohol and Emotions: Narratives from Namthanlong, Manipur

Alcohol work in Namthanlong village, Manipur has been fostering indigenous alcohol industry for several decades that remains a source of income for women workers. Emotional labour employed in this work especially in the vendors adds more woes to the existing vulnerability and exploitation they face in brewing and selling alcohol. As more women began to sell and serve alcohol for customers in their household setup, emotional labour came forth as a significant factor to cater and sustain the operation of alcohol vendors. This article is an attempt to bring out the facet of alcohol work and the role of women from Namthanlong. Primary data collected from the field in Namthanlong village has been used in presenting the realities of women workers in indigenous alcohol industry and the significance of emotional labour. Data was collected by taking interviews of prospective respondents with ethical considerations.

Assessment of the alcohol consumption among outdoor bar drinkers in Nigeria by qualitative methods

BackgroundThere are indications that drinking in outdoor bars, such as at motor-parks, by the roadsides or street corners have become popular in Nigeria.MethodThree sets of qualitative assessments were carried out from three outdoor bars, randomly selected from 22 of such in Ibadan, Nigeria. The main sources of data were by direct observation and focus group discussion (FGD), conducted by a non-probabilistic sample of outdoor bar drinkers, alcohol vendors and from community members. The qualitative assessments were recorded, followed by a thematic analysis of the contents of the qualitative assessments.ResultsWidespread use of alcohol was reported. Patrons of outdoor bars reported that their context of drinking was pleasurable to them. Use of local beverages usually called ‘sepe’ is increasing. The majority of them do not have adequate health information about the harmful consequences of alcohol. Alcohol and other substances of abuse were openly displayed, sold and consumed at the study sites. There were poor law provision and enforcement of laws prohibiting open display of alcohol and other substances.ConclusionA high proportion of social drinkers in outdoor bars require intervention for their drinking behaviour. This is important because they have little or no information about the health hazards associated with excessive drinking. Presentation of these findings should contribute to increased awareness and improved response from the policy makers.

Increased minimum legal age for the sale of alcohol in the Netherlands as of 2014: The effect on alcohol sellers’ compliance after one and two years

BackgroundAs of January 2014, the Dutch minimum legal age for the sale and purchase of all alcoholic beverages has increased from 16 to 18 years of age. The effectiveness of a minimum legal age policy in controlling the availability of alcohol for adolescents depends on the extent to which this minimum legal age is complied with in the field. The main aim of the current study is to investigate, for a country with a West-European drinking culture, whether raising the minimum legal age for the sale of alcohol has influenced compliance rates among Dutch alcohol vendors. MethodsA total of 1770 alcohol purchase attempts by 15-year-old mystery shoppers were conducted in three independent Dutch representative samples of on- and off-premise alcohol outlets in 2013 (T0), 2014 (T1), and 2016 (T2). The effect of the policy change was estimated controlling for gender and age of the vendor. ResultsMean alcohol sellers’ compliance rates significantly increased for 15-year-olds from 46.5% before to 55.7% one year and to 73.9% two years after the policy change. Two years after the policy change, alcohol vendors were up to 3 times more likely to comply with the alcohol age limit policy. ConclusionAfter the policy change, mean alcohol compliance rates significantly increased when 15-year-olds attempted to purchase alcohol, an effect which seems to increase over time. Nevertheless, a rise in the compliance rate was already present in the years preceding the introduction of the new minimum legal age. This perhaps signifies a process in which a lowering in the general acceptability of juvenile drinking already started before the increased minimum legal age was introduced and alcohol vendors might have been anticipating this formal legal change.

CHARAKTERYSTYKA STANU I ZMIAN ROZMIESZCZENIA WYBRANYCH PRZESTĘPSTW W SZCZECINIE Z WYKORZYSTANIEM GEOSTATYSTYCZNEJ ANALIZY GIS

CHARAKTERYSTYKA STANU I ZMIAN ROZMIESZCZENIA WYBRANYCH PRZESTĘPSTW W SZCZECINIE Z WYKORZYSTANIEM GEOSTATYSTYCZNEJ ANALIZY GIS

The sales and marketing practices of English-language internet alcohol vendors

This study aimed to fill information gaps about the sales and marketing practices of internet alcohol vendors and their implications for addressing youth access and other legal violations. Further, it aimed to expand the limited scientific literature on internet alcohol sales using systematic survey methods to inform future efforts to regulate this industry and prevent sales to minors. The design was a cross-sectional website content analysis survey. [Not applicable]. A total of 105 internet alcohol vendor websites. Six key content analysis topics were explored: products offered, average prices and proportions of vendors using different promotions, policy statements and methods for age verification, payment and delivery. Websites sell and promote a variety of alcohol products, offered as cheaply as $1.93 for a 750-ml bottle. Vendors rely heavily upon age verification methods that are unlikely to prevent sales to minors. Many vendors advertise shipping of products via methods through which it is illegal or against delivery company policies to transport alcohol, and 99% of vendors accept credit cards. Limiting and enforcing delivery and payment options are types of policy interventions that have been used successfully with internet cigarette vendors that may be applicable to internet alcohol vendors as well. Internet alcohol vendor practices are insufficient to prevent sales to minors, and need further regulation and enforcement of existing policies. Their sales practices are similar to those of internet cigarette vendors prior to regulation, and similar regulatory approaches may be effective in reducing internet alcohol sales to minors.

Psycho-spatial predictors of alcohol use among motor drivers in Ibadan, Nigeria: Implications for preventing vehicular accidents

Abikoye, G. E. (2012). Psycho-spatial predictors of alcohol use among motor drivers in Ibadan, Nigeria: Implications for preventing vehicular accidents. International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 1(1), 17-26. doi:10.7895/ijadr.v1i1.32 (http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v1i1.32)Aims: The study examined the roles of selected psychological, demographic and environmental variables in predicting hazardous drinking for both commercial drivers and private drivers.Design: The study was a cross-sectional survey.Setting: Data were collected at motor parks, auto workshops and car wash centers across the metropolis of Ibadan, Nigeria.Participants: A convenience sample of 566 drivers was recruited (241 commercial and 325 private drivers). Most drivers were male, and the mean age of the total sample was 35.70 years (±8.62 years).Measurements: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) was used to measure hazardous drinking. Psychological variables included standardized measures of perceived drinking norms and optimistic bias. Demographic variables included age, sex, education, marital status, employment status and income. Environmental variables included proximity to alcohol vendors or selling points and neighborhood density.Findings: About 45% of commercial drivers and 25% of private drivers reported hazardous levels of alcohol consumption. Hazardous drinking was predicted by age, education, income, proximity to alcohol outlets, neighborhood density, optimistic bias and perceived drinking norms even when all variables were included in the regression model. These variables accounted for a substantial proportion of variance in predicting hazardous drinking.Conclusions: Psychological, environmental and demographic variables are important in understanding hazardous drinking among drivers and should be incorporated into intervention for reducing drivers’ hazardous drinking, including drinking and driving.

Internet Alcohol Sales to Minors

OBJECTIVES To determine whether minors can successfully purchase alcohol online and to examine age verification procedures at the points of order and delivery. DESIGN A cross-sectional study evaluated underage alcohol purchase attempts from 100 popular Internet vendors. SETTING The study was conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, July 14-27, 2011. PARTICIPANTS Eight 18- to 20-year-old individuals participated. OUTCOME MEASURES Rates of successful sales to minors and use of age verification procedures at order and delivery were determined. RESULTS Of the 100 orders placed by the underage buyers, 45% were successfully received; 28% were rejected as the result of age verification. Most vendors (59%) used weak, if any, age verification at the point of order, and, of 45 successful orders, 23 (51%) used none. Age verification at delivery was inconsistently conducted and, when attempted, failed about half of the time. CONCLUSIONS Age verification procedures used by Internet alcohol vendors do not adequately prevent online sales to minors. Shipping companies should work with their staff to improve administration of age verification at delivery, and vendors should use rigorous age verification at order and delivery. Further research should determine the proportion of minors who buy alcohol online and test purchases from more vendors to inform enforcement of existing policies and creation of new policies to reduce youth access to alcohol online.

Does smoking affect schooling? Evidence from teenagers in rural China

Youth smoking can biologically reduce learning productivity. It can also reduce youths’ expected returns to education and lower their motivation to go to school, where smoking is forbidden. Using rich household survey data from rural China, this study investigates the effect of youth smoking on educational outcomes. Youth smoking is clearly an endogenous variable; to obtain consistent estimates of its impact, we use counts of registered alcohol vendors and a food price index as instrumental variables. Since the variable that measures smoking behavior is censored for non-smoking adolescents, we implement a two-step estimation strategy to account for the censored nature of this endogenous regressor. The estimates indicate that smoking one cigarette per day during adolescence can lower students’ scores on mathematics tests by about 0.08 standard deviations. However, we find no significant effect of youth smoking on either Chinese test scores or total years of schooling.

US state alcohol sales compared to survey data, 1993–2006

Assess long-term trends of the correlation between alcohol sales data and survey data. Analyses of state alcohol consumption data from the US Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System based on sales, tax receipts or alcohol shipments. Cross-sectional, state annual estimates of alcohol-related measures for adults from the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System using telephone surveys. United States. Participants State alcohol tax authorities, alcohol vendors, alcohol industry (sales data) and randomly selected adults aged > or = 18 years 1993-2006 (survey data). State-level per capita annual alcohol consumption estimates from sales data. Self-reported alcohol consumption, current drinking, heavy drinking, binge drinking and alcohol-impaired driving from surveys. Correlation coefficients were calculated using linear regression models. State survey estimates of consumption accounted for a median of 22% to 32% of state sales data across years. Nevertheless, state consumption estimates from both sources were strongly correlated with annual r-values ranging from 0.55-0.71. State sales data had moderate-to-strong correlations with survey estimates of current drinking, heavy drinking and binge drinking (range of r-values across years: 0.57-0.65; 0.33-0.70 and 0.45-0.61, respectively), but a weaker correlation with alcohol-impaired driving (range of r-values: 0.24-0.56). There were no trends in the magnitude of correlation coefficients. Although state surveys substantially underestimated alcohol consumption, the consistency of the strength of the association between sales consumption and survey data for most alcohol measures suggest both data sources continue to provide valuable information. These findings support and extend the distribution of consumption model and single distribution theory, suggesting that both sales and survey data are useful for monitoring population changes in alcohol use.

The Underworld Sewer: a Prostitute Reflects An Life in the Trade, 1871-1909

For twenty years Josie Washburn lived and worked in houses of prostitution. She spent last twelve as madam of a moderately fancy brothel in Lincoln, Nebraska. After retiring in 1907 and moving to Omaha, she turned to throwing a searchlight on underworld, including cribs of Nebraska's largest city. The Underworld Sewer, based on her own experience in profession, blazes with a kind of honesty unavailable to more conventional moral reformers. Originally published in 1909, The Underworld Sewer asks why the social evil is universally considered necessary or inevitable. Washburn minces no words in exposing conditions that perpetuate prostitution: greed and graft of landlords, pimps, alcohol vendors, dope dealers, police officers, city administrators, and politicians; competition for circulation by sensation-seeking newspapers; indifference or intolerance of law-abiding, church-going citizens; false modesty that prevents family discussion of venereal disease; double standard that allows men to indulge their sexuality but punishes women who do so. Sharon Wood is an assistant professor of history at University of Chicago.

Endogenous Alcohol Prohibition and Drunk Driving

Public concern about alcohol abuse has stimulated a considerable amount of federal, state, and local legislation aimed at reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related behavior. An extensive empirical literature focuses on the impact of these policies on motor vehicle accidents, the leading cause of alcohol-related deaths. For example, studies suggest that increases in federal or state excise taxes on alcohol discourage heavy drinking and reduce motor vehicle fatalities [3; 6; 8; 11]. State-level legislation, such as minimum drinking age laws or preliminary-breath-test laws, has been shown to significantly lower motor vehicle fatalities [2; 13]. Although local legislation is examined less frequently in the literature, there is some evidence that county-level restrictions on alcohol sales lower the rate of alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities. Saffer and Grossman [14; 15], Chaloupka, Saffer and Grossman [2], and Wilkinson [17] control for the proportion of a state's population residing in counties where alcohol sales are prohibited and find a negative impact on state-level motor vehicle fatality rates. Winn and Giacopassi [18] report that Kentucky counties which prohibit alcohol sales have significantly lower alcohol-related motor vehicle accident rates. Using county-level data on the state of Texas, Jewell and Brown [7] find that limitations in the number of licensed alcohol vendors could decrease alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents and fatalities.

Alcohol availability and alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents

The impact of alcohol availability on alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents centres on the sensitivity of consumption to changes in the full price of alcohol – the dollar price of alcohol plus the time and travel costs associated with acquiring alcohol. Reducing the number of licensed alcohol vendors raises the time and travel costs of alcohol; if alcohol consumption is responsive to this price increase, then drinking and driving may decrease. Using data on the 254 counties in the US state of Texas, the results in this paper show that alcohol availability has a significant impact on alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents. Thus, alcohol vendor restrictions can be an important policy tool in reducing such accidents.

The Trends in Dram Shop Laws and How They Affect the Hospitality Industry: Balancing Competing Policy Considerations of Tort Reform and Curbing Drunk Driving

This article outlines the history of and the current trends in legislation throughout the United States. It will be seen that the term dram shop law can have extremely divergent meanings from state to state. In part, this is because such laws are designed to address competing and difficult-to-reconcile public policies. On the one hand, there is the public interest in curbing the incidence and consequences of drunk driving, which is an argument in favor of increasing the liability of alcohol vendors and servers. On the other, there is the public interest in keeping insurance available and its costs under control, which indicates a policy of reducing the liability of those in the hospitality industry and thus decreasing their exposure (and, hence, the exposure of their insurance carriers) to insured risks. The purpose of this article is to explain these competing policies and to show how the states are currently balancing them in enacting or amending their laws. Those in the hospitalit...