Leslie B. Snyder, PhD¹, Fran Fleming Milici, MA¹, Xiaolan Helen Sun, MA¹, Yuliya Strizhakova, MA¹, and Michael Slater, PhD². (1) Dept. of Communication Sciences, University of Conncecticut, 1085, Storrs, CT 06269-1085, 860 486-4383, leslie.snyder@uconn.edu, (2) Department of Journalism and Technical Communication, Colorado State University, C-229 Clark Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1785

There has been considerable public policy debate about whether alcohol advertising should be restricted. To inform the debate, a large-scale national longitudinal study was conducted examining the relationship between drinking alcoholic beverages and advertising exposure among youth 15-26 year olds in the U.S. Survey data over four time periods from 1873 youth 24 media markets was matched with data about the amount of television, radio, and outdoor advertising in their market. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the data. The study found that self-reported alcohol advertising exposure in the prior month led to a slight increase in youth drinking in the prior month, controlling for time, age, gender, and the amount of advertising available in the market.

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