Project Description
Neighborhood Outlets and Alcohol Outlets
PI: Roland Sturm
Previous ecological studies have established links between alcohol outlet densities and violence, motor vehicle crashes, and alcohol-related hospital admissions. Yet, to date, there has been little effort to translate these research findings into policies regulating the location and density of alcohol outlets. Admittedly, the evidence remains incomplete. Almost all studies use ecological designs, which are considered problematic for drawing causal inferences about individual behavior. Identifying associations between alcohol outlets and problem drinking and other health problems, including clinical measures, using individual level data would add significantly to the literature by bridging the gap between the newer geographic literature and traditional survey research. This combination may increase the credibility of evidence or disprove claims based on aggregate associations and eventually influence alcohol policy. This project will geocode individual-level survey data to neighborhood and community characteristics, both at the national level and separately for Los Angeles County, to analyze the relationship between alcohol consumption, problem drinking in particular, and alcohol outlets in the neighborhood, socioeconomic place factors, individual socio-economic status, and race/ethnicity.
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