Relationship between Alcohol Policies and Violence among Youth

Violence and alcohol use are leading social problems in the United States and reductions in these behaviors are included as national health objectives outlined in Healthy People 2020. The relationship between alcohol consumption and violence has been well-documented. Researchers have also found that increasing the price of alcohol is associated with a decrease in alcohol consumption. Together, these relationships suggest that policies that reduce alcohol consumption may also reduce the incidence of violent behaviors. This study analyzed whether higher alcoholic beverage prices and strict alcohol control policies are associated with reductions in youth violence. The project links state-level alcohol policy data from the Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) with data on fighting and violent victimization from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997- 2008), the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (1991-2007), and the National Crime Victimization Survey (1994-2004) for youth ages 12-24 years. We use a reduced form model to assess the direct impact of alcohol prices and other control policies on violence and victimization. By examining the direct relationship between alcohol policies and violence, we bypass the potentially endogenous alcohol consumption measures and directly quantify the potential effectiveness of alcohol-control policies in reducing the prevalence of different forms of violence. We find that beer price and restrictions on obtaining kegs are negatively associated with the incidence of violence. Our results suggest that higher prices for beer and restrictions on obtaining kegs may be useful in reducing youth violence.