Discrimination is associated with heavy drinking, drinking-related problems, and greater risk of alcohol use disorders according to new research from the Alcohol Research Group, a program of the Public Health Institute, published online in Social Science & Medicine. Although the health effects of discrimination have been widely studied, this systematic review is the first comprehensive assessment of the research specifically on alcohol use. Researchers reviewed 97 studies, seeking to … [Read more...]
Policymakers
Privatization’s Effect on Neighboring States
An increase in cross-border traffic by Washington State residents to Idaho and Oregon following Washington’s privatization of liquor stores resulted in significant revenue for the two bordering states according to a new study from the Alcohol Research Group, a program of the Public Health Institute, published online this week in the journal Addiction. However, researchers found that while Idaho and Oregon saw an increase in liquor sales, Washington’s sales declined by only a quarter of one … [Read more...]
SBIR Subaward Supports Innovative APP
ARG received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant sub-award in collaboration with BrightOutcome, an innovative software development company that focuses on creating applications to improve population health. This contract will see the research team through Phase II of a project that aims to enhance a previously developed multi-translated alcohol measures catalog, which featured Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages. The current prototype contains 127 … [Read more...]
Researchers Present at AP17
In early April, researchers from around the world met in Arlington, Virginia for the 17th annual Alcohol Policy (AP) Conference. ARG scientists were among the presenters and featured Center Director William C. Kerr's plenary session on alcohol privatization, highlighting his recent work in Washington State. Senior Scientist Thomas K. Greenfield and Scientist Katherine Karriker-Jaffe presented their research on alcohol's harms to others (AHTO) during a panel discussion that sought to … [Read more...]
New Study Looks at Alcohol’s Harms to Others Around the World
A new NIAAA-funded 4-year study will be the first multinational project to assess the extent and impacts of harms experienced due to heavy drinking by the drinker's family, friends and strangers. It will provide new insights into how different social and cultural contexts and alcohol-related policies impact such harms. While the study of the broad array of alcohol's harms to others (AHTO) is a fairly new area of research, previous work has looked at particular second-hand harms from … [Read more...]
Neighborhood’s Effect on Drinking
The socioeconomic makeup of a neighborhood may have a greater influence on people than previously thought, Associate Scientist and lead author Katherine Karriker-Jaffe suggests. The study published in Prevention Science showed men who live in affluent neighborhoods held attitudes more favorable to drinking and were more likely to drink heavily and to experience consequences related to alcohol use, such as family problems or getting into fights, than residents of other neighborhoods. … [Read more...]
ARG Receives Five-Year Grant
ARG is pleased to announce it has received a $7.3M grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to support the continuation of its National Alcohol Research Center. The funds will be dispersed over a five year period beginning this year through to 2020. The grant supports four core components and three research projects that focus on addressing alcohol-related health disparities in order to identify and reduce the effects of economic or social disadvantage on … [Read more...]
How Place Affects Your Health
For ARG Scientist, Katherine Karriker-Jaffe, PhD, what began as an interest in health and social justice has developed into a passion to better understand how our neighborhoods – where we live, work and play – influence whether we drink, smoke or use other substances and whether we have problems due to substance use. While there is a long tradition of looking at a neighborhood’s impact on our health, there has been less work done on sub-group effects, that is, how specific groups of people … [Read more...]
Study Assesses Recovery Residences for LGBTI
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) adults face unique health disparities and addressing these disparities is a national health priority. Within this community, men who have sex with men (MSM) may be at elevated risk for alcohol and drug use as well as serious, yet preventable health conditions such as HIV and other STDs, viral hepatitis, pneumonia, and TB. Research suggests that addiction recovery residences are a promising mechanism to promote and sustain recovery from … [Read more...]
PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center
ARG receives re-designation as a Collaborating Center thru to September 2019. Congratulations to Cheryl Cherpitel, DrPH, for her successful direction of the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center on Alcohol Epidemiology and Injury over the past four years. From her leadership, and the support of a highly skilled research team, ARG has been re-designated as a Collaborating Center through to September 2019. Since 2011, Cherpitel and her colleagues have made significant contributions to research on … [Read more...]
