Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine, 265 Crittenden Blvd., CU 420644, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2011 Sep;8(9):3796-809. doi: 10.3390/ijerph8093796. Epub 2011 Sep 23.
The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was increased in the U.S. in the late 1980s in an effort to reduce intoxication-associated injuries, especially those related to motor vehicle accidents. This paper explores distal (secondary) effects of changing MLDA on indices of infant health, and whether changes in drinking behaviors or birth composition contributed to these effects.
State- and year-fixed-effects models are used to analyze the relationship between MLDA, drinking behaviors, and birth outcomes. We studied the effects of different MLDA (age 18, 19, 20, or 21 years) when potential mothers were 14 years old by merging two population-based datasets, the Natality Detailed Files and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System between 1985 and 2002.
A MLDA of 18 years old (when potential mothers were 14 years old) increased the prevalence of low birth weight, low Apgar scores, and premature births. Effects were stronger among children born to black women compared with white women. Moreover, a younger MLDA was associated with an increasing proportion of very young and high school dropouts for black women. Furthermore, older MLDA laws at age 14 years decreased the prevalence of binge drinking among black women.
Increasing the MLDA had longer term, distal impacts beyond the initially intended outcomes, specifically on birth outcomes (particularly among infants born to black women) as well as school drop-outs and binge drinking patterns among black young females. The older MLDA, intended initially to reduce problematic drinking behaviors, appeared to alter broader social contexts that influenced young women during their early childbearing years.
20 世纪 80 年代末，美国将法定最低饮酒年龄（MLDA）提高，旨在减少与醉酒相关的伤害，尤其是与机动车事故相关的伤害。本文探讨了改变 MLDA 对婴儿健康指标的间接（次要）影响，以及饮酒行为或出生构成的变化是否促成了这些影响。
采用州和年份固定效应模型分析 MLDA、饮酒行为与出生结局之间的关系。我们通过合并两个基于人群的数据集，即 1985 年至 2002 年的生育详细档案和行为风险因素监测系统，研究了当潜在母亲 14 岁时不同 MLDA（18 岁、19 岁、20 岁或 21 岁）的影响。
18 岁的 MLDA（当潜在母亲 14 岁时）增加了低出生体重、低阿普加评分和早产的发生率。与白人女性相比，黑人女性的影响更大。此外，较年轻的 MLDA 与黑人女性中越来越多的未成年和高中辍学生有关。此外，对于 14 岁的黑人女性，较年长的 MLDA 法降低了狂欢性饮酒的流行率。
提高 MLDA 除了最初预期的结果之外，还会产生更长期、更间接的影响，特别是对出生结局（尤其是黑人女性所生婴儿）以及黑人年轻女性的辍学和狂欢性饮酒模式。最初旨在减少不良饮酒行为的较年长 MLDA 似乎改变了影响年轻女性在其早期生育年龄的更广泛的社会背景。
