How Do "Point Oh-Eight" (.08) BAC Laws Work?

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Carpenter ◽  
Katherine Harris
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Drunk Driving ◽  
Reduced Form ◽  
Behavioral Risk ◽  
Moderate Drinking ◽  
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Deterrence Effect

AbstractOver the past two decades, states have toughened their adult drunk driving laws by setting the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) threshold at .08, down from .10. Although several studies have shown that these laws have been effective at reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities, there is very little evidence on the underlying behavioral mechanisms through which .08 BAC laws achieve the fatality reductions. We estimate reduced form models of the effects of .08 BAC laws on a wide range of self-reported alcohol-related risk behaviors using large samples from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 1999-2003 – a period when 32 states’ .08 BAC laws went into effect. Models with state and year fixed effects provide no evidence that .08 BAC laws reduced alcohol-involved driving, and we similarly find no effects on drinking participation or the likelihood of binge drinking. We do find robust evidence, however, that .08 BAC laws reduced past month alcohol consumption among moderate drinking males by about five percent. These reductions are larger for older, college educated, and married men. Taken together with results from previous research on other drunk driving interventions, our findings confirm a general deterrence effect and suggest that tougher drunk driving laws work primarily by reducing alcohol consumption.

Alcohol Control Policies and Youth Alcohol Consumption: Evidence from 28 Years of Monitoring the Future

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S Carpenter ◽  
Deborah D Kloska ◽  
Patrick O'Malley ◽  
Lloyd Johnston
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
High School Seniors ◽  
Drunk Driving ◽  
Heavy Episodic Drinking ◽  
Reduced Form ◽  
The Future ◽  
Monitoring The Future ◽  
Historical Comparative

Abstract We provide the first historical comparative analysis of the effects of Minimum Legal Drinking Ages (MLDA), beer taxes, and "Zero Tolerance" (ZT) underage drunk driving laws on the drinking behaviors of high school seniors using confidential area-identified data from the 1976-2003 waves of the Monitoring the Future (MTF) Surveys. We estimate reduced form models of drinking participation and heavy episodic drinking that account for state and year fixed effects. Our findings confirm that nationwide increases in the MLDA in the late 1970s and 1980s and adoption of ZT laws in the 1990s both significantly reduced alcohol consumption by high school seniors, with larger effects for the MLDA than for ZT laws. Higher beer taxes are also estimated to reduce youth drinking participation. Overall, the results confirm that a variety of types of government intervention can have important effects on youth alcohol consumption.

scholarly journals Ride-Hailing Services and Alcohol Consumption: Longitudinal Analysis (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Burtch ◽  
Brad N Greenwood ◽  
Jeffrey S McCullough
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Binge Drinking ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Drunk Driving ◽  
Metropolitan Statistical Area ◽  
Adverse Health ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND Alcohol consumption is associated with a wide range of adverse health consequences and a leading cause of preventable deaths. Ride-hailing services such as Uber have been found to prevent alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities. These services may, however, facilitate alcohol consumption generally and binge drinking in particular. OBJECTIVE The goal of the research is to measure the impact of ride-hailing services on the extent and intensity of alcohol consumption. We allow these associations to depend on population density as the use of ride-hailing services varies across markets. METHODS We exploit the phased rollout of the ride-hailing platform Uber using a difference-in-differences approach. We use this variation to measure changes in alcohol consumption among a local population following Uber’s entry. Data are drawn from Uber press releases to capture platform entry and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Systems (BRFSS) Annual Survey to measure alcohol consumption in 113 metropolitan areas. Models are estimated using fixed-effects Poisson regression. Pre- and postentry trends are used to validate this approach. RESULTS Ride-hailing has no association with the extent of alcohol consumption in high (0.61 [95% CI –0.05% to 1.28%]) or low (0.61 [95% CI –0.05% to 1.28%]) density markets, but is associated with increases in the binge drinking rate in high-density markets (0.71 [95% CI 0.13% to 1.29%]). This corresponds to a 4% increase in binge drinking within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. CONCLUSIONS Ride-hailing services are associated with an increase in binge drinking, which has been associated with a wide array of adverse health outcomes. Drunk driving rates have fallen for more than a decade, while binge drinking continues to climb. Both trends may be accelerated by ride-hailing services. This suggests that health information messaging should increase emphasis on the direct dangers of alcohol consumption and binge drinking.

scholarly journals Cultural Differences in Tweeting about Drinking Across the US

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Giorgi ◽  
David B. Yaden ◽  
Johannes C. Eichstaedt ◽  
Robert D. Ashford ◽  
Anneke E.K. Buffone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Drunk Driving ◽  
Driving Under The Influence ◽  
Behavioral Risk ◽  
Excessive Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Linguistic Markers ◽  
Community Project ◽  
The Us ◽  
Excessive Alcohol

Excessive alcohol use in the US contributes to over 88,000 deaths per year and costs over $250 billion annually. While previous studies have shown that excessive alcohol use can be detected from general patterns of social media engagement, we characterized how drinking-specific language varies across regions and cultures in the US. From a database of 38 billion public tweets, we selected those mentioning “drunk”, found the words and phrases distinctive of drinking posts, and then clustered these into topics and sets of semantically related words. We identified geolocated “drunk” tweets and correlated their language with the prevalence of self-reported excessive alcohol consumption (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; BRFSS). We then identified linguistic markers associated with excessive drinking in different regions and cultural communities as identified by the American Community Project. “Drunk” tweet frequency (of the 3.3 million geolocated “drunk” tweets) correlated with excessive alcohol consumption at both the county and state levels (r = 0.26 and 0.45, respectively, p < 0.01). Topic analyses revealed that excessive alcohol consumption was most correlated with references to drinking with friends (r = 0.20), family (r = 0.15), and driving under the influence (r = 0.14). Using the American Community Project classification, we found a number of cultural markers of drinking: religious communities had a high frequency of anti-drunk driving tweets, Hispanic centers discussed family members drinking, and college towns discussed sexual behavior. This study shows that Twitter can be used to explore the specific sociocultural contexts in which excessive alcohol use occurs within particular regions and communities. These findings can inform more targeted public health messaging and help to better understand cultural determinants of substance abuse.

Abstract P383: Trends in Selected Chronic Conditions and Behavioral Risk Factors Among Women of Reproductive Age: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2011-2017

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 141 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald K Hayes ◽  
Jean Y Ko ◽  
Cheryl L Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Behavioral Risk ◽  
High Cholesterol ◽  
Behavioral Risk Factor ◽  
Women Of Reproductive Age ◽  
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance ◽  
Risk Factor Surveillance ◽  
Related Risk

Introduction: Chronic disease causes significant morbidity and mortality across the lifespan. Public health approaches that reduce or prevent risk factors along with effective management of chronic diseases can improve health. This study describes trends of chronic conditions and related risk factors among reproductive aged women. Methods: Data from the 2011-2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a representative state-based telephone survey of health behavior in US adults, were analyzed among 265,544 women of reproductive age, 18-44 years. We estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (APR) using predicted marginals to assess trends over time for 12 chronic conditions and related risk factors accounting for age, race/ethnicity, education, and health care coverage. Results: From 2011-2017, estimates of the following decreased: smoking (20.7%—15.9%; P-value <0.001), gestational diabetes (3.1%—2.7%; 0.003), and high cholesterol (19.0%—16.7%, 2011-2015; <0.001). Whereas the estimates increased for depression (20.4%—24.9%; <0.001), and obesity (24.6%—27.6%; <0.001). There were no differences over time for heavy alcohol consumption, binge drinking, diabetes, pregnancy-related high blood pressure, or high blood pressure. In the adjusted analysis, WRA were more likely to report asthma (APR=1.06; 95%CI=1.01—1.11), physical inactivity (1.08; 1.04—1.12), obesity (1.15; 1.11—1.19), and depression (1.29; 1.25—1.34) in 2017 compared to 2011. They were less likely to report high cholesterol (0.89; 0.85—0.94; 2011-2015), smoking (0.86; 0.82—0.89); and gestational diabetes (0.84; 0.75—0.94). Conclusions: Future research should examine why some chronic conditions and related risk factors improved while others worsened. That research may support the development of targeted interventions to promote improvements and reverse the worsening trends in chronic disease and related risk factors, potentially preventing adverse reproductive and long-term health outcomes among women of reproductive age.

scholarly journals HEALTH BEHAVIORS ASSOCIATED WITH SUBJECTIVE COGNITIVE DECLINE IN OLDER ADULTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S912-S912
Author(s):  
Kristi M Wisniewski ◽  
Elizabeth M Zelinski
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Subjective Cognitive Decline ◽  
Behavioral Risk ◽  
Behavioral Risk Factor ◽  
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance ◽  
Risk Factor Surveillance

Abstract Participation in risky health behaviors can increase the potential for cognitive decline. Smoking, alcohol consumption, and minimal physical activity are modifiable risk factors associated with worse performance on cognitive assessments; however, the relationship between subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and risky practices has not been assessed. As a potential early indicator of cognitive impairment, SCD may serve as a screening measure for dementia. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is an annual, self-reported telephone survey of Americans that includes fifteen core and twenty-five optional sections. The present study included Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System participants age 45 or older who completed the core and cognitive decline modules in 2015 (n=147,243). Roughly 11% of participants endorsed worsening memory in the previous year. Logistic regression examined the impact of smoking, drinking, and inactivity on self-reported cognitive decline. Current or former smokers had greater odds of endorsing cognitive decline compared to those who never smoked (OR=1.4; 95% CI: 1.27-1.52). Individuals who consumed at least one alcoholic beverage in the previous month had lower SCD odds compared to non-drinkers (OR=0.8; 95% CI: 0.72-0.87). Respondents who engaged in little to no physical activity had greater odds of endorsing cognitive decline compared to active respondents (OR=1.4; 95% CI: 1.31-1.57). Individuals who endorsed cognitive decline engaged in unhealthy habits such as smoking or inactive lifestyles; however, low to moderate alcohol consumption may be beneficial for cognitive functioning.

Chronic Drinking, Binge Drinking, and Drunk Driving II

1999 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Duncan ◽  
Joseph Donnelly ◽  
Thomas Nicholson ◽  
John White
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Binge Drinking ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
Drunk Driving ◽  
Behavioral Risk ◽  
Behavioral Risk Factor ◽  
Driving While Intoxicated

Data from the Rhode Island Behavioral Risk Factor Survey on self-reported alcohol consumption and drunk driving were examined. Driving while intoxicated was significantly associated with both binge drinking and chronic drinking, but the measures of drinking were not significantly associated.

scholarly journals Do Alcohol Consumers Exercise More? Findings from a National Survey

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. French ◽  
Ioana Popovici ◽  
Johanna Catherine Maclean
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Vigorous Physical Activity ◽  
Heavy Drinking ◽  
Behavioral Risk ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Sectional Analysis

Purpose. Investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and physical activity because understanding whether there are common determinants of health behaviors is critical in designing programs to change risky activities. Design. Cross-sectional analysis. Setting. United States. Subjects. A sample of adults representative of the U.S. population (N = 230,856) from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Measures. Several measures of drinking and exercise were analyzed. Specifications included numerous health, health behavior, socioeconomic, and demographic control variables. Results. For women, current drinkers exercise 7.2 more minutes per week than abstainers. Ten extra drinks per month are associated with 2.2 extra minutes per week of physical activity. When compared with current abstainers, light, moderate, and heavy drinkers exercise 5.7, 10.1, and 19.9 more minutes per week. Drinking is associated with a 10.1 percentage point increase in the probability of exercising vigorously. Ten extra drinks per month are associated with a 2.0 percentage point increase in the probability of engaging in vigorous physical activity. Light, moderate, and heavy drinking are associated with 9.0, 14.3, and 13.7 percentage point increases in the probability of exercising vigorously. The estimation results for men are similar to those for women. Conclusions. Our results strongly suggest that alcohol consumption and physical activity are positively correlated. The association persists at heavy drinking levels.

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