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Intoxicated And Underage Find Easy Access To Alcohol

Alcohol, America’s youth, car crashes, violence: the connections aren’t difficult to make. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics show that of the more than 6,000 youth (ages 15 to 20) who died in motor vehicle crashes in 2000, nearly 40 percent (2,339) were alcohol-related. Furthermore, according to national police data from 1998, youth and young adults (ages 15 to 29) committed 37 percent of those violent incidents that involved alcohol. This study examined how clerk/server, outlet, and neighborhood characteristics may contribute to alcohol sales to underage or already intoxicated people.

Researchers used three steps to collect data from randomly selected alcohol establishments in a northern California city. The first involved “scouting” establishments to obtain information on neighborhood and local establishment characteristics. The second involved sending pseudo-intoxicated male customers to on-premise establishments (n=135), such as bars, to determine rates of alcohol service; the third involved sending of-age female customers who appeared to be minors to off-premise establishments (n=139), such as liquor stores, to determine rates of alcohol sales.

Apparent minors were able to purchase alcohol 39 percent of the time, while pseudo-intoxicated customers were served alcohol 58 percent of the time. Apparent minors were more likely to be allowed to purchase alcohol in neighborhoods with higher percentages of Hispanic residents. Pseudo-intoxicated customers were more likely to purchase alcohol when the clerk/server was male and appeared to be younger than 30 years of age. Both forms of illegal sales were more likely in highly populated areas. Although it’s illegal to provide alcohol to minors and intoxicated patrons, clearly it continues.

(Freisthler, F, Gruenewald, PJ, Treno, AJ, Lee, J: Evaluating alcohol access and the alcohol environment in neighborhood areas. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 27:477-484, 2003.)

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