Nuchter, Centre for Research on Age Restrictions, Kerkenbos 1033, 6546 BB Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences, Department of Health Promotion, Maastricht University/CAPHRI, The Netherlands.
Nuchter, Centre for Research on Age Restrictions, Kerkenbos 1033, 6546 BB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Int J Drug Policy. 2017 Nov;49:8-14. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.07.016. Epub 2017 Aug 17.
As of January 2014, the Dutch minimum legal age for the sale and purchase of all alcoholic beverages has increased from 16 to 18 years of age. The effectiveness of a minimum legal age policy in controlling the availability of alcohol for adolescents depends on the extent to which this minimum legal age is complied with in the field. The main aim of the current study is to investigate, for a country with a West-European drinking culture, whether raising the minimum legal age for the sale of alcohol has influenced compliance rates among Dutch alcohol vendors.
A total of 1770 alcohol purchase attempts by 15-year-old mystery shoppers were conducted in three independent Dutch representative samples of on- and off-premise alcohol outlets in 2013 (T0), 2014 (T1), and 2016 (T2). The effect of the policy change was estimated controlling for gender and age of the vendor.
Mean alcohol sellers' compliance rates significantly increased for 15-year-olds from 46.5% before to 55.7% one year and to 73.9% two years after the policy change. Two years after the policy change, alcohol vendors were up to 3 times more likely to comply with the alcohol age limit policy.
After the policy change, mean alcohol compliance rates significantly increased when 15-year-olds attempted to purchase alcohol, an effect which seems to increase over time. Nevertheless, a rise in the compliance rate was already present in the years preceding the introduction of the new minimum legal age. This perhaps signifies a process in which a lowering in the general acceptability of juvenile drinking already started before the increased minimum legal age was introduced and alcohol vendors might have been anticipating this formal legal change.
截至 2014 年 1 月，荷兰销售和购买所有酒精饮料的法定最低年龄已从 16 岁提高到 18 岁。最低法定年龄政策在控制青少年获得酒精方面的有效性取决于该政策在该领域的遵守程度。目前研究的主要目的是在一个具有西欧饮酒文化的国家调查，提高酒精销售的最低法定年龄是否会影响荷兰酒精销售商的合规率。
2013 年（T0）、2014 年（T1）和 2016 年（T2），共有 15 岁的神秘顾客在三个独立的荷兰现场和场外酒精销售点进行了 1770 次酒精购买尝试。该政策变化的效果是通过控制销售商的性别和年龄来估计的。
从政策变化前的 46.5%到一年后的 55.7%，再到两年后的 73.9%，15 岁的酒精销售者的合规率显著提高。政策变化两年后，酒精销售者遵守酒精年龄限制政策的可能性增加了两倍多。
政策变化后，15 岁青少年尝试购买酒精时，平均酒精合规率显著提高，而且这种效应似乎随着时间的推移而增加。然而，在引入新的最低法定年龄之前的几年里，合规率已经有所上升。这或许表明，在提高最低法定年龄之前，青少年饮酒的普遍接受度已经开始下降，而酒精销售商可能已经预料到了这种正式的法律变化。
