Minimum Drinking Age Research Articles

Drinking Age Policy Implementation and the Practice of Federal Law in the United States

Readjusting a standardized national drinking age, particularly in the area of implementation has been a matter of concern to scholars of political science and health sciences. It is instructive to note that the national legal drinking age of 21 years is a primary alcohol-control policy initiated and implemented since 1985 in the United States. Different groups have raised public debate on the minimum drinking age and proposed reducing it to 18 years. However, recent trends in alcohol drinking and related consequences, comparative effect of the minimum legal drinking ages of 21 years and 18 years, research on drinking among high school and college students related to minimum legal drinking age are critically reviewed, using secondary data sources. This article therefore seeks to support the minimum drinking age of 21 years, rather than lowering it to 18 years. Concerted interventional roles are essential by the assistance of non-governmental organizations, public health experts, legal experts, and public office holders; for the purpose of influencing healthy decisions about alcohol among the early adults and thereby leading to reduction in alcohol consumption and its negative impacts.

Nation-scale primary prevention to reduce newly incident adolescent drug use: the issue of lag time.

BackgroundThere is limited evidence about the effects of United States (US) nation-level policy changes on the incidence of alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking. To investigate the potential primary prevention effects on precocious drug use and to clarify lag-time issues, we estimated incidence rates for specified intervals anticipating and lagging after drug policy enactment. Our hypotheses are (a) reductions in underage drinking or smoking onset and (b) increases of incidence at the legal age (i.e., 21 for drinking and 18 for smoking).MethodsThe study population is 12–23-year-old non-institutionalized US civilian residents. Estimates are from 30 community samples drawn to be nationally representative for the US National Surveys on Drug Use and Health 1979–2015. Estimates were year-by-year annual incidence rates for alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking by 12–23-year-olds, age by age. Meta-regressions estimate age-specific incidence over time.ResultsIncidence of underage alcohol drinking declined and followed a trend line that started before 1984 enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, but increased drinking incidence for 21 year olds was observed approximately 10 years after policy enactment. Eight years after the Synar amendment enactment, evidence of reduced smoking incidence started to emerge. Among 18 year olds, a slight increase in tobacco smoking incidence occurred about 10 years after the Synar amendment.ConclusionOnce nation-level policies affecting drug sales to minors are enacted, one might have to wait almost a decade before seeing tangible policy effects on drug use incidence rates.

Fake Identification Usage on College Campuses and their Effects on Underage Drinking

On July 17, 1984 President Ronald Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act creating a nationwide minimum drinking age to 21 years of age. All 50 states rose their alcohol purchase age to 21 by mid 1988. There are some federal exceptions to the minimum age of 21 for underage consumption of alcohol including exceptions for religious or medical reasons. Under age drinking remains a pervasive problem on the US college campuses. Under age drinking has been related to poor academic performance, motor vehicle crashes, risky sexual behaviors, sex violence and alcohol related health problems including future alcohol dependency. Laws vary from state to state on the use of fake identification (Fake ID`s) and the potential penalties if caught with a Fake ID`s. We conducted a study at three large state universities in Florida to evaluate the use of False Identification (Fake ID) to subterfuge the underage drinking laws. 688 of these surveys were used for the analysis since 128 respondents did not met the age criteria of being 18 or older but under age 21. Of the 688 respondents, 273 (33.5%) had a fake ID and the vast majority of these students used fake IDs to purchase alcohol (83.1%) and/or enter a bar to drink alcohol (85.9%). Despite national and state efforts to decrease underage drinking, there is still a high percentage of college students who participate in underage drinking. In our study almost 40% of underage students have fake ID`s.

Does our legal minimum drinking age modulate risk of first heavy drinking episode soon after drinking onset? Epidemiological evidence for the United States, 2006-2014.

Background. State-level ‘age 21’ drinking laws conform generally with the United States National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (US), and are thought to protect young people from adverse drinking experiences such as heavy episodic drinking (HED, sometimes called ‘binge drinking’). We shed light on this hypothesis while estimating the age-specific risk of transitioning from 1st full drink to 1st HED among 12-to-23-year-old newly incident drinkers, with challenge to a “gender gap” hypothesis and male excess described in HED prevalence reports.Methods. The study population consisted of non-institutionalized civilians in the United States, with nine independently drawn nationally representative samples of more than 40,000 12-to-23-year-olds (2006–2014). Standardized audio computer-assisted self-interviews identified 43,000 newly incident drinkers (all with 1st HED evaluated within 12 months of drinking onset). Estimated age-specific HED risk soon after first full drink is evaluated for males and females.Results. Among 12-to-23-year-old newly incident drinkers, an estimated 20–30% of females and 35–45% of males experienced their 1st HED within 12 months after drinking onset. Before mid-adolescence, there is no male excess in such HED risk. Those who postponed drinking to age 21 are not spared (27% for ‘postponer’ females; 95% CI [24–30]; 42% for ‘postponer’ males; 95% CI [38–45]). An estimated 10–18% females and 10–28% males experienced their 1st HED in the same month of their 1st drink; peak HED risk estimates are 18% for ‘postponer’ females (95% CI [15–21]) and 28% for ‘postponer’ males (95% CI [24–31]).Conclusions. In the US, one in three young new drinkers transition into HED within 12 months after first drink. Those who postpone the 1st full drink until age 21 are not protected. Furthermore, ‘postponers’ have substantial risk for very rapid transition to HED. A male excess in this transition to HED is not observed until after age 14.

The effect of minimum drinking age laws on pregnancy, fertility, and alcohol consumption

Analysis of micro-level data reveals that changes in the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) could induce changes in the intensity and location of alcohol consumption, sexual behavior, and teen fertility. Effects on teen fertility vary across different populations. Among 15–20 year-old non-poor whites, less restrictive legal access to alcohol decreases the probability of first pregnancy and abortion. For this group, easier legal access to alcohol likely increases the alcohol consumption in bars. For black and poor white young women, the results are sensitive to the alcohol consumption restrictions measure. A decrease in the MLDA increases the probability of first pregnancy and abortion. Yet, using a more precise measure that accounts for the MLDA and the woman’s age, these results generally no longer hold.

Case closed: research evidence on the positive public health impact of the age 21 minimum legal drinking age in the United States.

In 2006, the nonprofit organization Choose Responsibility called for repealing the 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which had led all 50 states to establish a minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21 years, and allowing the states to lower their MLDA to 18 years. Two years later, the organization assembled a small group of college and university presidents (the Amethyst Initiative) to call publicly for a critical reexamination of the law. Public health and traffic safety experts responded to these efforts by generating new research on the age 21 MLDA, thus warranting an updated review of the literature. This review focuses primarily on research published since 2006, when Choose Responsibility began its public relations campaign to lower the MLDA. Recent research on the age 21 MLDA has reinforced the position that the current law has served the nation well by reducing alcohol-related traffic crashes and alcohol consumption among youths, while also protecting drinkers from long-term negative outcomes they might experience in adulthood, including alcohol and other drug dependence, adverse birth outcomes, and suicide and homicide. The age 21 law saves lives and is unlikely to be overturned. College and university leaders need to put into effect workable policies, stricter enforcement, and other evidence-based prevention efforts that have been demonstrated to reduce underage drinking and alcohol-related problems on campus and are being applied successfully at prominent academic institutions.

A Pint for A Pound? Minimum Drinking Age Laws and Birth Outcomes

Minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws are known to reduce alcohol consumption among young adults. One additional benefit of higher MLDAs may be that they improve health outcomes among infants born to young mothers. We estimate the impact of MLDAs on infant health in the USA by comparing birth outcomes among 14-20 year old mothers who were exposed to different MLDAs because of when and where they gave birth. Infants born to mothers who were between the ages of 21 and 24 years are included as a control group. We find that low MLDAs are associated with very small birth weight reductions, but have a little relationship with other traditional measures of infant health. We find compelling evidence, however, that a low MLDA increases the probability of a female birth, which suggests that restricting alcohol access to young mothers may reduce fetal deaths.

Do Alcohol Compliance Checks Decrease Underage Sales at Neighboring Establishments?

Underage alcohol compliance checks conducted by law enforcement agencies can reduce the likelihood of illegal alcohol sales at checked alcohol establishments, and theory suggests that an alcohol establishment that is checked may warn nearby establishments that compliance checks are being conducted in the area. In this study, we examined whether the effects of compliance checks diffuse to neighboring establishments. We used data from the Complying with the Minimum Drinking Age trial, which included more than 2,000 compliance checks conducted at more than 900 alcohol establishments. The primary outcome was the sale of alcohol to a pseudo-underage buyer without the need for age identification. A multilevel logistic regression was used to model the effect of a compliance check at each establishment as well as the effect of compliance checks at neighboring establishments within 500 m (stratified into four equal-radius concentric rings), after buyer, license, establishment, and community-level variables were controlled for. We observed a decrease in the likelihood of establishments selling alcohol to underage youth after they had been checked by law enforcement, but these effects quickly decayed over time. Establishments that had a close neighbor (within 125 m) checked in the past 90 days were also less likely to sell alcohol to young-appearing buyers. The spatial effect of compliance checks on other establishments decayed rapidly with increasing distance. Results confirm the hypothesis that the effects of police compliance checks do spill over to neighboring establishments. These findings have implications for the development of an optimal schedule of police compliance checks.

Commentary on Callaghan et al. (2013): Minimum legal drinking age laws protect high school students from both crashes and alcohol abuse

Commentary on <scp>C</scp>allaghan <i>et al</i>. (2013): Minimum legal drinking age laws protect high school students from both crashes and alcohol abuse

WITHDRAWN: Reprint of “The Legal Minimum Drinking Age in Texas: Effects of an Increase from 18 to 19”

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This reprinted article has been retracted at the request of the Publisher. The online version of this reprint has been withdrawn as it was a redundant duplicate of the original article. The original can be found via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-4375(86)90067-8. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.

Endorsement of a Personal Responsibility to Adhere to the Minimum Drinking Age Law Predicts Consumption, Risky Behaviors, and Alcohol-Related Harms.

Despite minimum drinking age laws, underage college students engage in high levels of risky drinking and reach peak lifetime levels of alcohol dependence. A group of presidents of universities and colleges has argued that these laws promote disrespect for laws in general, and do not prevent drinking or related negative consequences. However, no study has investigated the policy-relevant question of whether students who endorse a personal responsibility to obey drinking laws, regardless of their opinions about the laws, are less likely to drink or to experience negative consequences. Therefore, we compared endorsers to non-endorsers, controlling for race, gender, and baseline outcomes, at two universities (Ns = 2007 and 2027). Neither sample yielded a majority (49% and 38% endorsement), but for both universities, all 17 outcome measures were significantly associated with endorsement across all types of analyses. Endorsers were less likely to drink, drank less, engaged in less high-risk behavior (e.g., heavy/binge drinking), and experienced fewer harms (e.g., physical injury), even when controlling for covariates. Racial/ethnic minority groups were more likely to endorse, compared to White students. By isolating a small window of time between high school and college that produces large changes in drinking behavior, and controlling for covariates, we can begin to hone in on factors that might explain relations among laws, risky behaviors, and harms. Internalization of a social norm to adhere to drinking laws could offer benefits to students and society, but subsequent research is needed to pin down causation and causal mechanisms.

Conversation with Robert Voas

Conversation with <scp>R</scp>obert <scp>V</scp>oas

The impact of drinking on psychological well-being: Evidence from minimum drinking age laws in the United States

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and psychological well-being among young adults in the United States. We do so by exploiting the discontinuity in alcohol consumption at age 21 and using a regression discontinuity design. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997 Cohort), we document that young adults tend to increase their alcohol consumption and drink on average 1.5 days per month more once they are granted legal access to alcohol at age 21. However, we also show that in general, this discrete jump in alcohol consumption at age 21 has no statistically significant impact on several indicators of psychological well-being among young adults. This result suggests that although stricter alcohol control targeted toward young adults may result in meaningful reductions in alcohol consumption, the immediate spillover effects of such policies on psychological well-being are relatively limited.

How Are Homicide, Suicide, and Drinking Age Related?

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessHow Are Homicide, Suicide, and Drinking Age Related?Leslie SinclairLeslie SinclairSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:3 Feb 2012https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.47.3.psychnews_47_3_26-aAbstractCari Lightner’s legacy may be more far reaching than anyone thought. She was the 13-year-old girl whose death in 1980 caused by a hit-and-run drunk driver spurred her mother, Candace Lightner, to create Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Candace Lightner’s personal crusade was so successful that only two years after Cari’s death, Lightner was invited by President Ronald Reagan to be a member of the presidential commission that subsequently recommended the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) be raised to 21.The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 legislated the withholding of revenue from states that allow the purchase of alcohol by anyone under the age of 21; by 1987, all 50 states had set their MLDA at 21.Raising the minimum legal drinking age may have prevented more deaths than just those caused by drunk drivers.olly/ShutterstockNow, more than 30 years after Lightner founded MADD, proponents say that alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the United States have been cut by 40 percent, and they estimate that MADD and its efforts have saved more than 300,000 lives.But researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in a November 15, 2011, online article in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, have chronicled another possible result of the change in MLDA that may have added substantially to the number of lives saved: A lower MLDA appears to be associated with a persistent, elevated risk for suicide and homicide among women. These researchers said their data suggest that the national MLDA of 21 may be preventing as many as 600 suicides and 600 homicides annually in the United States.Their findings are based on an analysis of data from the U.S. Multiple Cause of Death files, 1990 to 2004, combined with data on the living population from the U.S. Census and American Community Survey.Richard Grucza, Ph.D., M.P.E., an assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues found that women who grew up during a time of lower drinking-age laws in some states, particularly women born after 1960, were at higher risk for taking their own life or that of someone else. The databases the researchers examined included records on more than 200,000 suicides and 130,000 homicides for individuals born from 1949 to 1972, who reached adulthood during years when the drinking age was in flux in many states.Why women but not men? “The sex specificity of the MLDA-suicide and MLDA-homicide associations may be related to unique alcohol-related risks faced by women,” wrote Grucza and colleagues. They also theorized that although suicide attempts are more common in women but completions are more prevalent in men, alcohol problems stemming from lower MLDAs may increase the lethality of suicide attempts by women, as well as elevate rates of partner violence and influence rates of female homicide deaths.They also speculated that the reason suicide and homicide rates were not associated with MLDA for women born prior to 1960 may be that “excessive drinking was simply not part of the culture for women born in earlier years of the cohorts examined here, and changing cultural norms may be a key contributor to MLDA-associated suicide and homicide risk observed for more recent birth years.”Could other factors be involved? “Because we were working with vital-statistics data, there were a limited number of additional factors that could be explicitly modeled, although education was one of them, and it did not influence the association,” Grucza explained to Psychiatric News. “Unless other factors changed at the same times and in the same places as drinking-age laws, they are unlikely to account for the association we saw between MLDA and suicide/homicide.”The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.An abstract of “The Legacy of Minimum Legal Drinking Age Law Changes: Long-Term Effects on Suicide and Homicide Deaths Among Women” is posted at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01608.x/abstract. ISSUES NewArchived

The legacy of minimum legal drinking age law changes: long-term effects on suicide and homicide deaths among women.

Prior to the establishment of the uniform drinking age of 21 in the United States, many states permitted legal purchase of alcohol at younger ages. Lower drinking ages were associated with several adverse outcomes, including elevated rates of suicide and homicide among youth. The objective of this study is to examine whether individuals who were legally permitted to drink prior to age 21 remained at elevated risk in adulthood. Analysis of data from the U.S. Multiple Cause of Death files, 1990 to 2004, combined with data on the living population from the U.S. Census and American Community Survey. The assembled data contained records on over 200,000 suicides and 130,000 homicides for individuals born between 1949 and 1972, the years during which the drinking age was in flux. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate whether adults who were legally permitted to drink prior to age 21 were at elevated risk for death by these causes. A quasi-experimental analytical approach was employed, which incorporated state and birth-year fixed effects to account for unobserved covariates associated with policy exposure. In the population as a whole, we found no association between minimum drinking age and homicide or suicide. However, significant policy-by-sex interactions were observed for both outcomes, such that women exposed to permissive drinking age laws were at higher risk for both suicide (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.18, p = 0.0003) and homicide (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.25, p = 0.0028). Effect sizes were stronger for the portion of the cohort born after 1960, whereas no significant effects were observed for women born prior to 1960. Lower drinking ages may result in persistent elevated risk for suicide and homicide among women born after 1960. The national drinking age of 21 may be preventing about 600 suicides and 600 homicides annually.

Continuing the Dialogue: Reducing Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws from 21 to 18

The purpose of this paper is to examine both sides of the debate revolving around the issue of reducing the minimum legal drinking age law from age 21 to 18 years of age. Ethical considerations surrounding the issue are offered. The current 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act (MLDA 21) has been shown to save lives. However, in 2008 the major supporters of reducing the minimum legal drinking age laws from 21 to 18 issued a call to dialogue. The Amethyst Initiative and Choose Responsibility have spearheaded opposition to MDLA 21. They call for a public dialogue about the ineffectiveness of MLDA 21 laws; whereas proponents of MLDA 21 laws provide evidence-based data that the MLDA 21, laws save lives. The authors provide arguments in opposition to reducing the age requirements of the MLDA 21 laws and present ethical considerations that represent both sides of the issues. The authors conclude that in view of the adverse consequences of alcohol-related traffic injuries/fatalities among youth ages 15–20, cont...

Evidence and Evaluation: The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984

When considering federal legislation to encourage states to raise the drinking age to twenty-one, public officials faced a common problem: assessing the efficacy of a proposed policy change from evidence that is deficient in quality and quantity. These deficiencies mandated a discerning evaluation of the evidence, but instead the opposite occurred: a consensus that inflated, rather than dampened, the overly-optimistic estimates of existing studies. This outcome, which is not limited to this legislation, can be explained by three structural factors, organizational, intellectual, and process, which can be ameliorated to some extent by methodological and institutional reforms.

Long-term effects of minimum drinking age laws on past-year alcohol and drug use disorders.

Many studies have found that earlier drinking initiation predicts higher risk of later alcohol and substance use problems, but the causal relationship between age of initiation and later risk of substance use disorder remains unknown. We use a "natural experiment" study design to compare the 12-month prevalence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, alcohol and substance use disorders among adult subjects exposed to different minimum legal drinking age laws minimum legal drinking age in the 1970s and 1980s. The sample pools 33,869 respondents born in the United States 1948 to 1970, drawn from 2 nationally representative cross-sectional surveys: the 1991 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiological Survey (NLAES) and the 2001 National Epidemiological Study of Alcohol and Related Conditions. Analyses control for state and birth year fixed effects, age at assessment, alcohol taxes, and other demographic and social background factors. Adults who had been legally allowed to purchase alcohol before age 21 were more likely to meet criteria for an alcohol use disorder [odds ratio (OR) 1.31, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 1.15 to 1.46, p < 0.0001] or another drug use disorder (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.19 to 2.44, p = 0.003) within the past-year, even among subjects in their 40s and 50s. There were no significant differences in effect estimates by respondent gender, black or Hispanic ethnicity, age, birth cohort, or self-reported age of initiation of regular drinking; furthermore, the effect estimates were little changed by inclusion of age of initiation as a potential mediating variable in the multiple regression models. Exposure to a lower minimum legal purchase age was associated with a significantly higher risk of a past-year alcohol or other substance use disorder, even among respondents in their 40s or 50s. However, this association does not seem to be explained by age of initiation of drinking, per se. Instead, it seems plausible that frequency or intensity of drinking in late adolescence may have long-term effects on adult substance use patterns.

The National Minimum Drinking Age law: perceptions of its effectiveness to deter juvenile alcohol use

The National Minimum Drinking Age law has come under attack in several states that believe the law is ineffective in preventing juveniles from obtaining and consuming alcohol. This study evaluated this law's perceived effectiveness by surveying college students (n = 180) about their past and current alcohol use. Students were surveyed to determine what sanctions they perceived as deterrents to committing the offense of public intoxication. Analysis revealed that citation certainty, the number of drinks consumed weekly, residence location, and gender were significant predictors as to whether the student would commit the offense of public intoxication.

Effects of a College Community Campaign on Drinking and Driving with a Strong Enforcement Component

Objectives: A program of publicized intensive enforcement of minimum drinking age law and drinking and driving laws was implemented in a college community. The effects on driving at various blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) were evaluated, particularly for drivers ages 16–24 targeted by the program. Methods: Objective measures of driver BACs were collected through nighttime roadside surveys before and during the program in the experimental college community and a comparison college community. Logistic regression models estimated the program's effects on the likelihood of driving at various BAC thresholds in the program community, after accounting for BAC patterns in the comparison community. Results: Relative to the comparison community, consistent reductions in driving at various BAC levels (positive BAC and BAC at least 0.02, 0.05, or 0.08%) were achieved in the experimental community. Reductions were greatest for 16- to 20-year-olds (from 66% for positive BAC to 94% for BAC ≥ 0.05%), followed by 21- to 24-year-olds (from 32% for positive BAC to 71% for BAC ≥ 0.08%) and drivers 25 and older (from 23% for positive BAC to 53% for BAC ≥ 0.08%). All reductions for 16- to 20-year-olds were significant (p < 0.05), and all except the reduction for BAC ≥ 0.08 percent were significantly greater than the corresponding reductions for drivers 25 and older. Reductions for 21- to 24-year-olds were significant for BACs at least 0.02, 0.05, and 0.08 percent, but they were not significantly greater than the corresponding reductions for drivers 25 and older. Although large, reductions for drivers 25 and older were not significant, based on 95 percent confidence intervals. Conclusions: A college community program with a strong enforcement component produced substantial reductions in drinking and driving among teenagers and young adults and smaller reductions among older adults. It is hoped that this will encourage colleges and communities to incorporate enforcement into interventions directed at alcohol use among young people.