Abstract
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention to deter underage alcohol sales by targeting alcohol retailers instead of underage youth. A quasi-experiment using a repeated-intervention design was conducted for a random sample (n=143) of off-sale alcohol outlets from across New Orleans. Compliance checks of off-sale outlets were conducted at baseline, two months after the intervention, and eight months after the intervention. At baseline, only 11.2% (16/143) of outlets were compliant. Following the intervention, compliance increased to 39.9% (p<.001). The increase in compliance was greatest among outlets receiving citations for non compliance (23/45, 51.1%; p<.001); however, a significant increase in compliance (34/98, 34.7%; p<.001) was also observed among outlets that did not receive a citation but were only exposed to the media coverage of the issuing of citations. A small residual effect of the intervention persisted at eight months post intervention among the outlets receiving citations for non-compliance. The study demonstrates that a deterrence strategy composed of compliance checks and the threat of compliance checks was effective in increasing alcohol retailer compliance with the minimum legal drinking age law. Given the limited effectiveness of general deterrence strategies in targeting other illegal alcohol use behaviors, these findings suggest general deterrence strategies are less effective when the behavior targeted is influenced by physiologic and social externalities, as is the case for underage alcohol consumers, rather than by costs and benefits, as is the case for alcohol retailers.
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