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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Susan Cross Lipnickey, PhD, JD, Department of Physical Education, Health & Sport Studies, Miami University, 214 Phillips Hall, Oxford, OH 45056, 513.529.9247, lipnicsc@muohio.edu

Underage alcohol consumption, and its inherent impact on the health and well-being of the actual consumers and community, continues to draw national attention and concern. One approach that has been taken to address this problem is to increase efforts to “enforce the law” and arrest those under age 21 who violate the law by consuming or possessing alcohol. The purpose of this study was to utilize the court dockets for the last four (4) years in the city that is home to a mid-size (approximately 16,000 students) university to determine the overall number of alcohol-related arrests by academic year, the patterns of those arrests relative to whether it was a first offense or a multiple offense (having had more than one arrest on more than one occasion), the location of the offense (i.e. on-campus, off-campus, residence, bar) and the time of the offense (i.e. prior to the start of the academic year, long week-end, finals week), whether there were accompanying charges related to the alcohol offense (i.e. criminal mischief, assault), the sentence for the alcohol offense and, if relevant, the accompanying charges, the age of the “offenders” at the time of the offense, and whether or not the “offender” was a student at the local university. Further analysis was done in this case to look at patterns of arrest for underage alcohol offenses as they correlate to alcohol prevention initiatives on the university campus; conclusions were drawn from these data regarding future underage alcohol prevention strategies for college students.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Identify the consequences of underage alcohol consumption, short- and long-term, on the individual consumers and the community-at-large.
• Articulate the patterns of arrest for underage alcohol offenses of college students at one midwestern institution and.
• Identify the short- and long-term impact of arrest on subsequent alcohol use among underage college students.
• Apply the results of this study to primary prevention programs related to underage alcohol consumption on college and university campuses.

Keywords: Alcohol, College Students

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered