Significant associations between the locations of alcohol outlets and rates of violent criminal events such as assaults are observed in cross-sectional geographic studies in the alcohol prevention and criminology literature. Recently, alcohol prevention researchers and criminologists have advanced complementary modes of evaluating the relationships between retail and residential community areas and crime rates. These include geostatistical methods to explore the spatial relationships of people and places to violent crime and the theoretical approaches that predict the locations of crime in community areas. Today it appears that the ecological association between alcohol outlets and violence is not an accidental one; the relationship has been replicated in a number of studies, appears on a number of different geographic levels, and has strong theoretical support. Current studies of this relationship, however, are limited to the degree that they do not address four problems: (1) the limited use of theoretically relevant covariates in analysis models, (2) the use of biased statistical models for the analysis of geographic data, (3) a mis-specification of the outlet-violence relationship, (4) the absence of longitudinal data for the evaluation of temporally ordered effects. The current proposal suggests ways to deal with each of these issues and presents methods to explore ecological and individual expectations from theoretical models relating crime potentials (i.e., probabilities of crime across geographic areas) to arrests and injuries due to violent assaults. Four studies are proposed that examine the spatiotemporal relationships between outlet densities and violence (Study number 1), ecological correlations between outlet densities, crime potentials, retail markets and violence (Study number 2), the individual level effects of extreme levels of outlet densities on drinking behaviors, problems and aggressive norms (Study number 3), and individual level risk and protective factors related to assaults (Study number 4). The study designs enable the examination of these effects over long periods of time (10 years) and across vastly different areas of the state of California (e.g., across 1493 zip code areas). The short-term goals of this study are to clarify the mechanisms relating changes in outlet densities to assault rates and establish empirical bases for exploring the relationships of environmental characteristics (e.g., outlet densities) to individual norms for aggression. The long-term goal of this study is to provide empirical data to guide environmentally based alcohol-related crime prevention programs.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37)
Project #
5R37AA012927-02
Application #
6532394
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SNEM-1 (01))
Program Officer
Freeman, Robert
Project Start
2001-09-30
Project End
2004-07-31
Budget Start
2002-08-01
Budget End
2003-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$237,183
Indirect Cost
Name
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Beltsville
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
20705
Herd, Denise; Gruenewald, Paul; Remer, Lillian et al. (2015) Community Level Correlates of Low Birthweight Among African American, Hispanic and White Women in California. Matern Child Health J 19:2251-60
Gruenewald, Paul J; Freisthler, Bridget; Remer, Lillian et al. (2010) Ecological associations of alcohol outlets with underage and young adult injuries. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 34:519-27
Johnson, Fred W; Gruenewald, Paul J; Remer, Lillian G (2009) Suicide and alcohol: do outlets play a role? Alcohol Clin Exp Res 33:2124-33
Russell, Marcia; Chu, Bong Chul; Banerjee, Aniruddha et al. (2009) Drinking patterns and myocardial infarction: a linear dose-response model. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 33:324-31
Freisthler, Bridget; Gruenewald, Paul J; Ring, Lori et al. (2008) An ecological assessment of the population and environmental correlates of childhood accident, assault, and child abuse injuries. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 32:1969-75
Treno, Andrew J; Gruenewald, Paul J; Remer, Lillian G et al. (2008) Examining multi-level relationships between bars, hostility and aggression: social selection and social influence. Addiction 103:66-77
Gruenewald, Paul J (2007) The spatial ecology of alcohol problems: niche theory and assortative drinking. Addiction 102:870-8
Treno, Andrew J; Johnson, Fred W; Remer, Lillian G et al. (2007) The impact of outlet densities on alcohol-related crashes: a spatial panel approach. Accid Anal Prev 39:894-901
Freisthler, Bridget; Gruenewald, Paul J; Remer, Lillian G et al. (2007) Exploring the spatial dynamics of alcohol outlets and Child Protective Services referrals, substantiations, and foster care entries. Child Maltreat 12:114-24
Gruenewald, Paul J; Freisthler, Bridget; Remer, Lillian et al. (2006) Ecological models of alcohol outlets and violent assaults: crime potentials and geospatial analysis. Addiction 101:666-77

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