Palm Trees

Study Examines Association Between Location and Drinking Risks

Does location have much to do with whether or not you may have an alcohol problem? According to industry research, there is a clear connection between alcohol outlets and alcohol-related problems. There is also an association between outlets and different types of problem outcomes.

A new study featured in Science Daily shows that a particular group, underage youth and young adults, have specific problems, including injury accidents, traffic crashes and assaults that are related to specific types of alcohol outlets, such as off-premise bars and restaurants.

"Over the past four decades, public health researchers have come to recognize that although most drinkers safely purchase and enjoy alcohol from alcohol outlets, these places are also associated with serious alcohol-related problems among young people and adults," said Paul J. Gruenewald, senior research scientist at the Prevention Research Center and corresponding author for the study.

Richard Scribner, D'Angelo Professor of Alcohol Research at the LSU School of Public Health, noted that researchers believed in earlier studies that these associations were due to increased alcohol consumption related to higher alcohol outlet densities. As this area of research has matured, it appears that alcohol outlets present an important social institution within a neighborhood and their effects are not limited to the consequences of the sale of alcohol.

This study confirms that while drinking at bars may be a particular risk for aggression and alcohol-related assaults, drinking at restaurants may present a particular risk for drunk driving and alcohol-related traffic crashes. The findings also confirm prior studies which found that underage risks are uniquely associated with off-premise establishments.

Both Gruenewald and Scribner highlight the key message that a neighborhood's alcohol environment plays a role in regulating the risks that youth and young adults will be exposed to as they mature.