The impact of the U.S federal minimum legal drinking age law on alcohol involved firearm suicide: a regression discontinuity approach.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Suicide is a leading cause of death for young people. Half of young adult suicides are by firearm, and many involve alcohol consumption. We aimed to assess the impact of the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21 years on rates of alcohol positive firearm and non-firearm suicide.

Methods

We used a regression discontinuity approach with data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) 2005-2021, among U.S suicide decedents in 14 states aged 16-35 years. The primary outcomes were the change in the proportion of tests positive for alcohol and the change in rates of alcohol positive suicide per 100,000 population at the MLDA.

Findings

Across 14 states and 169 state-years, there were 434 alcohol positive suicides at age 20 and 684 alcohol positive

SUBMITTER: Jain V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11773202 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature