Wallace Amy E, Wallace Atticus, Weeks William B
Department of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical School, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA.
Mil Med. 2008 Jul;173(7):619-25. doi: 10.7205/milmed.173.7.619.
Before 1982, soldiers consumed alcohol legally on U.S. bases, regardless of age. By 1988, the military established policies to discourage underage and problem drinking and, along with the civilian population, fully transitioned to a 21-year minimum legal drinking age. We explored whether these changes were associated with changes in later alcohol treatment episodes among male veterans and civilians from years 1992 to 2003. Treatment rates for veterans and civilians were calculated using administrative databases for four age cohorts. Alcohol treatment rates were similar and odds ratios were > or = 1.0 for veterans compared with same-aged civilians in 1992; however, by 2003, veterans' treatment rates fell by 60% for ages 25 to 34 compared with a 20 to 25% reduction for civilians, and odds ratios fell to between 0.80 and 0.60 those of civilians. The military's concerted efforts to enforce the 21-year minimum legal drinking age were associated with greater reductions in later alcohol treatment episodes among veterans compared with civilians.
1982年以前，美国军事基地的士兵饮酒合法，年龄不限。到1988年，军方制定政策，不鼓励未成年人饮酒和酗酒问题，并与平民一样，全面过渡到法定最低饮酒年龄为21岁。我们探讨了这些变化是否与1992年至2003年男性退伍军人和平民后期酒精治疗事件的变化有关。使用四个年龄组的行政数据库计算退伍军人和平民的治疗率。1992年，退伍军人和平民的酒精治疗率相似，退伍军人与同龄平民的比值比≥1.0；然而，到2003年，25至34岁退伍军人的治疗率下降了60%，而平民下降了20%至25%，比值比降至平民的0.80至0.60之间。与平民相比，军方为执行法定最低饮酒年龄21岁所做的协同努力与退伍军人后期酒精治疗事件的更大减少有关。
