Local Efforts to Reduce High Alcohol Content Beverages: Translating Research Findings into Practice

By Rhonda Jones-Webb, Dr.P.H.
Associate Professor
Division of Epidemiology and Community Health
University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Background

Translation research characterizes the process by which proven interventions or polices are successfully adopted, implemented, and adapted in other settings. A major goal of our research is to examine the adoption, implementation, and diffusion of policies to restrict malt liquor sales and consumption in the United States.

Malt liquor is a lager beer that has higher alcohol content than regular beer (6-8% vs. 4-5% for standard beer). It is typically cheaper than regular beer and is sold in larger containers, the most notorious being the 40-ounce bottle. These large bottles are commonly sold chilled and wrapped in paper bags for immediate consumption. The combined effects of higher alcohol content, larger bottles, and faster consumption can result in higher blood-alcohol levels and an increased risk for aggressive behavior and other alcohol-related problems among malt liquor drinkers.

Citizen groups have alleged that malt liquor consumption leads to a spectrum of neighborhood problems such as public intoxication, destruction of property, and crime. To alleviate these concerns, cities such as Kansas City, Kansas and Santa Ana, California have enacted local policies to restrict malt liquor sales, often overcoming significant legal and organizational hurdles to do so. However, little information is available about how frequently communities experience problems related to malt liquor consumption, how many cities have successfully addressed these problems through adopting or attempting to adopt ordinances that place restrictions on malt liquor sales and use, or how efforts to restrict the sale of malt liquor has encouraged the adoption of similar policies in other communities. Among studies that have evaluated the effects of local laws to restrict malt liquor sales, results have been promising.

Local Efforts to Restrict Malt Liquor Sales Study

Our three-year study, Local Efforts to Restrict Malt Liquor Sales (LERMLS) has three primary objectives:

(1) Determine whether the sale and consumption of malt liquor is perceived as a problem by city officials and document what has been done at the local level to restrict it. Specifically, we are interested in learning which cities have tried successfully or unsuccessfully to adopt policies to restrict malt liquor sales and consumption over the last 13 years (1995-2007). Policies to restrict malt liquor may include restrictions on other high alcohol content beverages such as fortified wines; therefore, we will also include alcohol policies that include but are not restricted to malt liquor. This aim will be accomplished by conducting a telephone survey of city officials and staff responsible for alcohol policy-making and enforcement in the 100 largest U.S. cities.

(2) Compare six cities¿ efforts to adopt policies to restrict malt liquor sales and determine what factors were critical to their success or failure. This aim will be achieved by conducting a retrospective, comparative case study of three cities that successfully adopted policies that restrict malt liquor sales and three cities that were unsuccessful. Study cities will be selected based on results of the telephone survey. Special attention will be given to barriers and facilitators of passage and compromises made to adopt these policies. Multiple data collection strategies will be used, including key informant interviews, documentation review, and media tracking.

(3) Create a national database that provides summaries of key features of local policies that have been successfully adopted to restrict malt liquor sales on our Alcohol Epidemiology website (http://www.epi.umn.edu/alcohol), which is accessible to local policy makers, law enforcement officials, community groups, and researchers. The database will also include a summary of the literature on malt liquor consumption and policies to restrict its use, model ordinances that cities may wish to adapt to their communities, a summary of factors that may facilitate or impede adoption of these policies, and examples of measures that can be used to evaluate these policies.

The LERMLS study is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Studies on malt liquor are rare, and among studies that have been published most focus on malt liquor availability, promotion, consumption, and related problems. Thus, results from our study will provide new knowledge about why some cities are successful at adopting and implementing policies to restrict malt liquor sales, while others are not; and how the effects of these policies can be accurately assessed. Results will thus have real-world implications for cities wishing to alleviate alcohol-related problems.

Prior Research on Malt Liquor

Our study builds on findings from our Malt Liquor and Homicide (MLH) study, which investigated the role of alcohol and malt liquor availability and promotion in explaining disparities in homicide rates in inner-city neighborhoods in 10 U.S. cities including Santa Ana, Oakland, San Francisco, Kansas City (KS), Kansas City (MO), St. Paul, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Boston, and Baltimore. The MLH study was funded by the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse. In the MLH, we found that malt liquor was readily available and highly promoted, especially in African-American inner-city neighborhoods. Some of the measures we developed in the MHL study regarding malt liquor availability and promotion will be included in the LEFMLS national data base as potential measures to assess the effectiveness of policies to restrict the sale and consumption of malt liquor (Aim 3).

The LERMLS and MLH studies are part of the Alcohol Epidemiology Program, directed by Dr. Traci Toomey. AEP members also include Drs. Darin Erickson and Toben Nelson.  The mission of the AEP program is to conduct cutting edge research that leads to development of effective community and policy interventions to reduce alcohol-related social and health problems.

Team members in the LERMLS study include Dr. Traci Toomey and Ms. Pat McKee.