Press Release: May 11, 2023 During the first year of the pandemic, the number of people who live in a state that allowed bars and/or restaurants to deliver alcohol rose by 284%. This increase was more dramatic for to-go sales, climbing by 627%, according to a new study from researchers at the Alcohol Research Group, a program of the Public Health Institute, and RTI International. Researchers combined state policy data with survey data on alcohol purchases during the pandemic. This enabled … [Read more...]
New Findings
A major component of ARG’s activities is centered on epidemiology of drinking patterns, which we study in depth, and how these and many other factors, both individual, especially gender, racial/ethnic, sexual minority, and socioeconomic disparities, and environmental, such as neighborhood disadvantage and state and local policies, affect alcohol-related problems. These problems include alcohol use disorders and associated social and health harms such as, for example, injuries, drinking driving, work, legal, health and family or relationship difficulties, various co-morbidities such as mental health and other drug use, and alcohol-related mortality. In addition we strive always to improve measurement, data collection and analytic methodologies.
Effects of Medicaid expansion on alcohol and opioid treatment admissions in racial and ethnic groups
Recognizing that excessive drinking is a leading cause of preventable death in the US and that US opioid mortality rates have risen dramatically in recent decades, the US Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion sought to increase Americans’ health insurance coverage and access to substance use treatment services. Whether or not these landmark policies benefitted diverse population subgroups is an important public health question. A study, led by Senior Scientist Nina Mulia, examined the … [Read more...]
Project Update: Smoke-free Policy Adoption at Community Colleges
In California, only 52 of the 114 community college campuses are smoke-free or tobacco-free—a stark contrast to California’s four-year public colleges which are all tobacco-free. In response to this disparity, an ARG research team, led by Scientist Camillia K. Lui, conducted a mixed-method study that examined both campus and community influences on smoke-free policy adoption at community colleges. The team analyzed tobacco control policy databases, school administrative records, survey data, … [Read more...]
For Black Americans, Low Socioeconomic Position and Adverse School Experiences Earlier in Life Linked to Heavy Drinking in Adulthood
Press Release EMERYVILLE, CA -- A new longitudinal study examining how educational and socioeconomic experiences during adolescence can lead to midlife (ages 42-52) heavy drinking among Black Americans has found significant pathways connecting the two. Led by researchers at the Alcohol Research Group (ARG), a program of the Public Health Institute and released in Addiction, the study examined data on individuals followed more than 30 years and included analyses of adolescent poverty and … [Read more...]
Secondhand Harms Project Generates 26 Studies Across 36 Countries
After five-years of data analyses, the GENAHTO (Gender and Alcohol's Harms to Others) project wrapped up this year after producing a broad range of critical outcomes, including 26 published studies from across the globe. As the first multinational project to assess the extend and impacts of alcohol's secondhand harms, it provided new insights into how different social and cultural contexts and alcohol-related policies affect or mitigate such alcohol harms to others. By studying how … [Read more...]
Childhood Adversity Plays a Large Role in Heavy Alcohol Use
ARG Study Finds Childhood Trauma and History of Family Alcohol Problems Increase Likelihood of High Intensity Drinking, Particularly among Indigenous American Drinkers Press Release Emeryville, CA (September 20, 2021) – In new research that compares drinking rates across racial/ethnic groups, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) current drinkers report more instances of high intensity drinking (eight or more drinks in any one day) than Whites and other groups combined. However, when … [Read more...]
Victims of Female-Perpetrated Sexual Violence More Likely Assaulted by Someone They Know
In a new study looking at the characteristics of victims and perpetrators of female-perpetuated sexual assault (FPSA), found that, for assaults that happened in childhood, victims were most likely perpetrated by people with whom they had a relationship such as friends, classmates, family members, and babysitters. Victimization by authority figures, including teachers and coaches, was less common. Only 1.8% were victims of strangers. On average, victimization occurred between 11 and 12 years of … [Read more...]
Connected Neighbors Experience far Fewer Harms from Someone Else’s Drinking
Neighbors Who Feel Connected to One Another Experience far Fewer Harms from Someone Else’s Alcohol Use Press Release People living in neighborhoods with higher levels of social cohesion experience fewer harms from a stranger's drinking, according to a new study from the Alcohol Research Group (ARG), a program of the Public Health Institute. Published today in Alcohol and Alcoholism, the study examined the ways a neighborhood's social environment—alcohol availability, places where people drink, … [Read more...]
Cannabis Causes Fewer Harms to Others than Alcohol
Cannabis Can Hurt More than Just the User but Poses Less Risk to Others than Alcohol Press Release Findings from the first-ever study of marijuana’s secondhand harms show that fewer harms were attributed to someone else’s cannabis use than from secondhand drinking. The new research from the Alcohol Research Group, a program of the Public Health Institute, and RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, was conducted using 2014 to 2016 data from Washington State where recreational … [Read more...]
Injury-related Hospitalizations Rise After Liquor Sales Go Private
New research shows an increased rate of hospitalizations for accidental injuries in urban areas after Washington State privatized their liquor sales. The study found an additional 17,498 hospitalizations in metropolitan-urban counties in the 2.5 years after Initiative 1183 was passed compared to neighboring Oregon. Non-metropolitan-urban and rural counties did not see their hospitalization rates change. Initiative 1183 called for closing state-run liquor stores and allowing state licensing of … [Read more...]
