Long-term effects of minimum drinking age laws on past-year alcohol and drug use disorders.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many studies have found that earlier drinking initiation predicts higher risk of later alcohol and substance use problems, but the causal relationship between age of initiation and later risk of substance use disorder remains unknown.

Method

We use a "natural experiment" study design to compare the 12-month prevalence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, alcohol and substance use disorders among adult subjects exposed to different minimum legal drinking age laws minimum legal drinking age in the 1970s and 1980s. The sample pools 33,869 respondents born in the United States 1948 to 1970, drawn from 2 nationally representative cross-sectional surveys: the 1991 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiological Survey (NLAES) and the 2001 National Epidemi

SUBMITTER: Norberg KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3018854 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature