The focus of this project is on the effects of all alcohol related policies on alcohol abuse among various racial and ethnic populations. The data to be used include: a pooled time series of annual state cross sections for the years from 1968-1990; the First National Health and Nutrition. Examination Survey; the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; the Hispanic Household Surveys on Drug Abuse; the 1982 and 1989 Monitoring the Future Surveys of High School Seniors; the National Alcohol Survey and it Followup and Supplement. Outcomes to be examined include: alcohol related mortality and fatality rates (including deaths from chronic liver disease, alcohol dependence syndrome, non- dependent abuse of alcohol, alcohol psychosis, alcohol poisoning, motor vehicle traffic accidents, homicides, suicides, falls, drowning, fires and burns, and other accidents) constructed from the Vital Statistics data; and total and beverage specific alcohol consumption, frequency of consumption, incidents of heavy drinking, incidents of drinking and driving, incidents of traffic accident (total and alcohol related), incidents of other alcohol related accidents, drinking related work loss episodes, and other taken from the multiple survey data sets. Race/ethnic specific death rates will be defined for: Whites (including Hispanics), Blacks, Asian/Pacific Americans, and Native Americans (including American, Alaskan, Canadian, Eskimo, and Aleut). Less aggregated, race specific death rates will also be defined, where the data allow, for the following groups: Caucasians, Filipinos, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiians, Other Asian or Pacific Islanders, all Hispanics, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central and South Americans, and Other Hispanics. The following racial/ethnic groups will be examined in the survey data: Whites; Blacks; and Hispanics (total and the following subgroups: Puerto Rican, Cuban, Mexican, Latin American, and Other Hispanics). Finally, in addition to the total populations, age and sex specific subgroups will be examined in all data. Alcohol related policies to be emphasized include alcoholic beverage excise taxes, laws related to driving under the influence of alcohol, restrictions on the availability of alcohol (including mandatory minimum legal drinking ages) and limits on alcohol advertising.
