www.alkoholpolitik.ch

The use of alcohol locks became mandatory as of Monday for all authorized vehicles taking children to school and daycare. An alcohol lock prevents a car from starting if a breathalyzer test shows the driver is over the legal limit.
The use of alcohol locks is from now on required in school and daycare transportation that has been organized by the municipality, the school or public facility, or is otherwise supported by the state or the municipality. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/1/11)yle.fi, 08/1/11

… with and without a recent history of sexual violence.
Alcohol misuse among college students is a significant public health problem that can have negative long-term implications. One important correlate of problem drinking among college female populations is sexual violence. The current study investigated: (1) past year sexual violence and its association with alcohol consumption and related psychosocial variables (stress, coping, and mental health); and (2) whether the impact of an alcohol intervention was different for college women with a history of sexual violence compared to those without such a history. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/24/11)

We examined the association between pre-teen alcohol use initiation and the victimization and perpetration of bullying among middle and high school students in Georgia. …
Pre-teen alcohol use initiation is an important risk factor for both the perpetration and victimization of bullying among boys and girls in Georgia. Increased efforts to delay and reduce early alcohol use through clinical interventions, education and policies may also positively impact other health risk behaviors, including bullying. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/12/11)

Analysis of a National Samplestar.
This study examined patterns and correlates of protective drinking behaviors among incoming first-year college students.
Incoming first-year students (N = 76,882) from 258 colleges across the U.S. provided baseline data on demographics, drinking practices, and protective behaviors as part of a web-based alcohol education program. Across the several colleges, responses to protective behavior questions were collected from seven weeks before the start of the school year to five weeks after. …
Conclusions: College students increase risky drinking after the start of school while progressively using fewer behaviors that might mitigate the consequences of drinking. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/18/11) sciencedirect.com, 06/15/11

Our “Alcohol’s harm to others” conference took place on 3 June in Edinburgh. Around 100 delegates attended to hear from expert speakers and workshop leaders on the impact of excessive drinking on people other than the drinker, with a particular focus on children and young people.
Presentations can be downloaded below and the conference report will be available soon. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/10/11)

A public high school in Long Island, New York is opening an in-house drug and alcohol abuse clinic. According to Daytop Treatment Services, which will run the clinic, it is the first such facility in New York State and possibly in the United States.
Reuters reports that the clinic is opening in response to a jump in substance abuse among students. It will be housed at the William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, NY, and will open in August. The clinic will provide counseling, but will not dispense methadone or other medications. (Source: Join Together, 06/09/11)

Drinking motives have a prominent role in cognitive models of adolescent and adult alcohol decision-making … The complementary construct of motivation not to drink has received less attention. …
We examined how abstinence motives interacted with drinking motives and alcohol expectancies to predict alcohol consumption in samples of US high school students (N > 2,500).
Nondrinking motives predicted lower rates of lifetime and current alcohol use. Motives not to drink interacted with specific drinking motives, like social and coping motives, and alcohol expectancies to predict certain aspects of drinking behavior. For example, motives not to drink had the greatest impact on youth with weaker social motivations.
Findings highlight the distinction between motives not to drink and other alcohol-related cognitions in predicting adolescent alcohol consumption.
This work not only supports the utility of this construct in developing models of youth alcohol-related decision-making but also has implications for prevention programming. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/04/11)

Housewife or working mum – each to her own?
Aims: To investigate whether differences in gender-income equity at country level explain national differences in the links between alcohol use, and the combination of motherhood and paid labour.
Conclusion: In countries which facilitate working mothers, daily alcohol use decreases as female social roles increase; in contrast, in countries where there are fewer incentives for mothers to remain in work, the protective effect of being a working mother (with partner) on alcohol use is weaker. These data suggest that a country’s investment in measures to improve the compatibility of motherhood and paid labour may reduce women’s alcohol use. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 05/30/11) onlinelibrary.wiley.com, 2011

Binge drinking appears to hamper young adults’ ability to perform simple language and memory tests, a new study shows. The research suggests that drinking large quantities of alcohol in a short period may have an effect on the region of the brain involved in learning.
CNN reports that the study involved 122 college students between the ages of 18 and 20, about half of whom said they were binge drinkers. The other half drank alcohol moderately. All of the students performed learning and memory tests. First, they read lists of words and tried to remember as many as they could. Then they heard two stories and tried to retell them as accurately as they could. … (Source: Join Together, 5/17/11)

A proposed measure would require universal ID checks for anyone buying alcohol in Anchorage, AK liquor stores and bars. An earlier version of the bill included restaurants, but that provision has been dropped, according to The Anchorage Daily News.
The Anchorage Assembly will consider the measure Tuesday. An advisory vote in an April city election favored the bill 2-1. The ordinance is designed to curb underage drinking and to catch people who try to buy alcohol even though they have been court-ordered not to do so. … (Source: Join Together, 5/9/11)