Underage drinking: Do normative values matter?

Objective: The present study investigates if and how underage young adults' normative values about the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) and zero tolerance (ZT) drinking driving laws affect their alcohol use. Method: A subset of the 2000 National Alcohol Surveys (NAS) data, consisting of 399 men and women aged 18-20 and collected through random-digit-dialing computer-assisted telephone interviews, was used for logistic regression analyses. Covariates included: sex; race; education level; household income; positive and negative expectancies of drinking; and availability and affordability of alcohol. Results: Normative judgment about the MLDA was significantly associated with increased odds of most measures of alcohol use. Normative values about the MLDA and ZT laws were the only significant predictors of underage drinking driving. Overall, positive expectancies of drinking turned out to be the strongest predictor for all outcome measures except for drinking driving, but negative expectancy of legal enforcement was significantly associated only with frequent binge drinking. Availability of alcohol was not associated with any measure of alcohol use; affordability of alcohol was significantly associated only with frequent binge drinking. Perceived reactions of significant others to drinking were not a predictor for any measure of alcohol use. Conclusions: Normative values and positive expectancies associated with drinking may influence underage alcohol use more strongly than the perceived likelihood of law enforcement. Relying on enforcement of the law to control underage drinking may be impractical and ineffective.