TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2024//
TI  - State alcohol policy environments of U.S. colleges: predictors of sexual assault and alcohol-related arrest and disciplinary action
JO  - American journal of preventive medicine
A1  - Kasimanickam, Maadhanki R.
A1  - Kerr, David C. R.
A1  - Killion, Rebecca E.
A1  - Naimi, Timothy S.
A1  - Lira, Marlene C.
A1  - Bae, Harold
SP  - 1
EP  - 9
VL  - 66
IS  - 1
N2  - INTRODUCTION: Binge drinking and sexual assault are serious inter-related public health problems faced by college students. State-level alcohol policy restrictiveness has been found to decrease binge drinking among college students and, therefore, may also reduce occurrences of alcohol-related criminal offenses. It was hypothesized that more restrictive state alcohol policy environments would be associated with fewer liquor law violations and sexual assault offenses on U.S. college campuses. <br><br>METHODS: Data were aggregated across 3 academic years (2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019) and represented n=1,290 institutions. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression modeling was performed in 2022-2023 to evaluate associations of state-level young adult binge drinking and the Alcohol Policy Scale (APS) with the numbers of campus-level alcohol-related arrests, alcohol-related disciplinary actions, rape offenses, and fondling offenses reported in national Campus Safety and Security data. <br><br>RESULTS: Higher APS scores had direct associations with fewer alcohol-related arrests (1.79% decrease per one-unit increase in APS, p=0.05), alcohol-related disciplinary actions (2.27% decrease per one-unit increase in APS, p=0.027), and rape offenses (0.85% decrease per one-unit increase in APS, p=0.021). The associations APS scores had with disciplinary actions and rape offenses were partially and fully mediated, respectively, by state-level young adult binge drinking. No associations were found between APS and fondling offenses. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: This cross-sectional study presents evidence that more restrictive state alcohol policies are associated with fewer alcohol-related arrests and disciplinary actions, and rape offenses on college campuses. Future research should identify the alcohol policy domains that are most protective against these outcomes.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0749-3797
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2023.09.015
ID  - ref1
ER  -