Current use of underage alcohol compliance checks by enforcement agencies in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Compliance checks conducted by law enforcement agents can significantly reduce the likelihood of illegal alcohol sales to underage individuals, but these checks need to be conducted using optimal methods to maintain effectiveness. METHODS: We conducted a national survey of local and state enforcement agencies from 2010 to 2011 to assess: (i) how many agencies are currently conducting underage alcohol compliance checks, (ii) how many agencies that conduct compliance checks use optimal methods-including checking all establishments in the jurisdiction, conducting checks at least 3 to 4 times per year, conducting follow-up checks within 3 months, and penalizing the licensee (not only the server/clerk) for failing a compliance check, and (iii) characteristics of the agencies that conduct compliance checks. RESULTS: Just over one-third of local law enforcement agencies and over two-thirds of state agencies reported conducting compliance checks. However, only a small percentage of the agencies (4 to 6%) reported using all of the optimal methods to maximize effectiveness of these compliance checks. Local law enforcement agencies with an alcohol-related division, those with at least 1 full-time officer assigned to work on alcohol, and those in larger communities were significantly more likely to conduct compliance checks. State agencies with more full-time agents and those located in states where the state agency or both state and local enforcement agencies have primary responsibility (vs. only the local law agency) for enforcing alcohol retail laws were also more likely to conduct compliance checks; however, these agency characteristics did not remain statistically significant in the multivariate analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Continued effort is needed to increase the number of local and state agencies conducting compliance checks using optimal methods to reduce youth access to alcohol.

What Affects College Students' Decision to Intervene or Not Intervene When Someone Is Drinking Too Much?

OBJECTIVE: Medical amnesty policies aim to encourage individuals to help their peers who have been drinking too much by providing immunity for alcohol policy violations. We examined college students' decisions to intervene or not intervene when someone was drinking too much and reasons for not intervening. METHOD: We conducted secondary analyses using data from college students ages 18-25 who participated in the Healthy Minds Study, a national survey of mental health and substance use (N = 30,785; 65% female). We examined the prevalence of reasons for not intervening and estimated a multilevel multinomial logistic regression to answer our research questions. RESULTS: Nearly half (46.5%) of students reported being in at least one situation in the past year when someone was drinking too much. Among these students, 46.7% consistently intervened, 27.7% inconsistently intervened, and 25.6% did not intervene in these situations. The most common reasons for not intervening were: "I felt it was none of my business" and "I didn't know what to do." "I was afraid I'd get in trouble" was the least common reason for not intervening. Intervening differed by student characteristics, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, residence, international student status, and binge drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Fear of getting in trouble, the basis for amnesty policies, was not a major barrier preventing intervention behavior in our study. Our findings suggest that implementing amnesty policies may not lead to intervention behavior. Strategies that empower and compel students to help their peers and provide them with skills needed to help may lead to more intervention behavior.

Monitoring and decreasing public smoking among youth.

This study examined the impact of tobacco possession laws on public smoking among youth. There were two intervention sites: a fast food restaurant and a shopping mall. Two control sites were also monitored for public smoking among youth. Preliminary findings suggest that when police issued tickets to minors for violating tobacco possession laws, the number of youth smoking in public declined in both towns, with a more dramatic decrease occurring at the fast food site. In contrast, public smoking among youth in the control sites was not affected. The significance of reducing number of youth smoking in public through tobacco possession laws is discussed.

Association between alcohol-impaired driving enforcement-related strategies and alcohol-impaired driving.

All states in the U.S. prohibit alcohol-impaired driving but active law enforcement is necessary for effectively reducing this behavior. Sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, open container laws, and media campaigns related to enforcement efforts are all enforcement-related strategies for reducing alcohol-impaired driving. We conducted surveys of all state patrol agencies and a representative sample of local law enforcement agencies to assess their use of alcohol-impaired driving enforcement-related strategies and to determine the relationship between these enforcement-related strategies and self-reported alcohol-impaired driving behavior obtained from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We found that sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, and enforcement of open container laws were associated with a lower prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving but, more importantly, a combination of enforcement-related strategies was associated with a greater decrease in alcohol-impaired driving than any individual enforcement-related activity. In addition, alcohol-impaired driving enforcement-related strategies were associated with decreased alcohol-impaired driving above and beyond their association with decreased binge drinking. Results suggest law enforcement agencies should give greater priority to using a combination of strategies rather than relying on any one individual enforcement activity.

Differences in tobacco use among two-year and four-year college students in Minnesota.

OBJECTIVE: This study compares tobacco use rates among two-year and four-year college students and explores the demographic variables that predicted that behavior. PARTICIPANTS: 9,931 students at 14 two-year and four-year colleges in Minnesota participated. METHODS: Students at 11 schools completed an online survey, and students at 3 schools completed a paper survey in 2007. RESULTS: After controlling for sex, age, ethnicity, relationship status, hours of work per week, and number of school credits, attending a two-year college predicted current and daily smoking (odds ratio [OR]) = 1.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.52-1.89; OR = 3.47, 95% CI = 2.94-4.11) and smokeless tobacco use (OR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.32-2.06; OR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.06-2.53). CONCLUSIONS: Although two-year college students comprise approximately two fifths of the college student population, surveys of college student tobacco use have focused nearly exclusively on four-year college students. Two-year college students should represent a priority population for tobacco control because attending a two-year college predicts increased tobacco use.

Smoker self-identification versus recent smoking among college students.

BACKGROUND: College students who engage in occasional or social cigarette smoking are less likely to identify themselves as smokers and to attempt to quit. This analysis aimed to determine: (1) the correlates of denying being a smoker among students reporting smoking in the past 30 days and (2) if denying this label was related to not attempting to quit smoking in the past 12 months. METHODS: A total of 9931 students at 14 colleges completed a random sample survey in 2007. RESULTS: Of 2255 students reporting having smoked a cigarette in the past 30 days, 50.7% responded No to Do you consider yourself a smoker. Logistic regression indicated that, after controlling for the number of smoking days in the past 30, being younger (OR=0.94, p<0.001); being male (OR=1.59, p=0.009); attending a 4-year (versus 2-year) college (OR=1.73, p=0.004); and consuming alcohol in the previous 30 days (OR=2.14, p=0.03) were correlates of denying being a smoker. Logistic regression indicated that denial was related to not attempting to quit in the past 12 months (OR=1.72, p<0.001), after controlling for the number of smoking days, age, gender, type of school, and other health factors. CONCLUSIONS: Half of college smokers deny being smokers, particularly those who are younger, male, attending 4-year colleges, and alcohol consumers. Denying being a smoker was associated with not attempting to quit smoking. Therefore, traditional methods of ascertaining smoking status may not be valid in this population. Healthcare providers should more specifically ask students about recent smoking behavior. Further research is needed to develop interventions targeting smoking among this population.