QUICK FACTS FROM AEP RESEARCH

Reducing Illegal Alcohol Sales to Youth and Intoxicated Persons

What may help prevent stores, restaurants and bars from selling alcohol to underage persons?

• In a study of 942 alcohol establishments in 20 Midwestern U.S. cities, regular police compliance checks were shown to be effective: (1)

  • An immediate 17% reduction in sales to underage youth was seen among those establishments that received a compliance check.
  • Within 3 months, this reduction:
  • Decreased by 50% among bars and restaurants.
  • Disappeared entirely among liquor stores, grocery stores and convenience stores.

  An earlier study showed an association between decreased sales to underage and: (2)

  • Having a manager present all times.
  • Requiring formal training of server/sellers.

  More recent studies, however, show that:

  • Server/management training is not effective in reducing sales to underage persons. (1, 3)
  • Server/management training may be necessary for establishments to accept compliance checks. (1)

For more information order publication numbers:

(1) 11.6.153
Wagenaar AC, Toomey TL, Erickson DJ. Preventing youth access to alcohol: outcomes from a multi-community time-series trial. Addiction , 100(3):335-45, 2005.

(2) 11.6.85
Wolfson M, Toomey TL, Forster JL, Wagenaar AC, McGovern PG, Perry CL. Characteristics, policies, and practices of alcohol outlets and sales to youth. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 1996;57(6):670-674.

(3) 11.6.123
Toomey TL, Wagenaar AC, Gehan JP, Kilian G, Murray D, Perry CL. Project ARM: Alcohol risk management to prevent sales to underage and intoxicated patrons. Health Education & Behavior 2001; 28(2):186-199.

What do employees, managers and owners in bars and restaurants think about selling alcohol to underage and intoxicated customers?

Among 26 bartenders, wait staff, and security staff from bars and restaurants:

• Most disapprove of selling alcohol to young people.
• Most were reluctant to cut off service to intoxicated customers, particularly if the customers are not causing problems or if the customers are "regulars," because of:
  • fear of losing a tip
  • fear of customer becoming angry or violent
  • lack of support from management
• Many participated in training programs about responsible serving behaviors and had favorable opinions of the training.
• Many were familiar with "checking age identification" policies but were not aware of policies and procedures for cutting off service to intoxicated customers.

Among seven managers and owners of bars and restaurants:

• Few had written guidelines about illegal alcohol sales.
• Most felt server training programs were valuable but none had received specific management training about responsible beverage service.
• Several strongly feared liability lawsuits yet most did not feel threatened by law enforcement personnel or licensing authorities.
• Most recommended stronger laws against customers who cause problems rather than place responsibility on bars and restaurants.

For more information order publication number:

11.6.120
Gehan JP, Toomey TL, Jones-Webb R, Rothstein C, Wagenaar AC. Alcohol outlet workers and managers: Focus groups on responsible service practices. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education 1999 Winter; 44(2):60-71.

Do training programs for owners and managers prevent sales to intoxicated individuals?

A study involving five bars showed that:

• Bars that received alcohol risk management training for owners and managers showed a 46% decrease in sales to obviously intoxicated customers (compared to bars that did not receive training).
• Following management training, all five bars established written policies on reducing sales to intoxicated customers.

For more information order publication number:

11.6.123
Toomey TL, Wagenaar AC, Gehan JP, Kilian G, Murray D, Perry CL. Project ARM: Alcohol risk management to prevent sales to underage and intoxicated patrons. Health Education & Behavior 2001; 28(2):186-199.

What do we know about existing training programs for alcohol servers, sellers and managers?

Among 22 programs identified in the U.S.:

• A standardized training curriculum did not exist; programs varied in terms of content, techniques and audience targeted.
• Most programs covered issues about refusing sales to underage and intoxicated customers.
• Few programs used realistic scenarios and recommendations.
• Traffic crashes were generally the only alcohol-related social problem covered.
• Only 9 programs had an element that addressed managers.
• 11 programs consisted only of viewing a videotape with no facilitation.

For more information order publication number:

11.6.99
Toomey TL, Kilian GR, Gehan JP, Perry CL, Jones-Webb R, Wagenaar AC. Qualitative assessment of training programs for alcohol servers and establishment managers. Public Health Reports 1998 Mar-1998 Apr;113(2):162-169.

What do we know about existing server training laws?

Based on theory and findings from other studies, we determined 5 components that a good server training law should include:

1) Procedures for certifying or licensing program participants:

• Criteria for certifying or licensing the training programs used.
• Process for ensuring that all employees have completed the training program, including documentation.

2) Procedures for actively enforcing the server training law.

3) Penalties for violations that:

• Increase in severity for repeat violations.
• Target establishments to a greater degree than servers.

4) Specific requirements for the quality of the actual server training program-

• Information for management about developing policies for their establishment.
• Training of both managers and servers.
• Role-playing and other skill-building techniques rather than just presenting information.
• Information about the physiological effects of alcohol and the variety of social problems associated with alcohol use (beyond traffic crashes).
• Training that lasts at least four hours.

Using these guidelines, among the 23 states that had a server training law as a January, 2001:

• The laws are, overall, of fairly poor quality.
• Violations by training programs, establishments and servers are likely to go undetected.
• Almost half (11 states) either did not meet any of the minimum standards or had no standards at all for the quality of their server training programs.
• Only two states included minimum standards for both server and manager training in their training programs.
• States that require establishments to undergo server training rather than only offering incentives for those that voluntarily undergo training, have overall higher quality laws.

For more information order publication number:

11.6.133
Mosher JF, Toomey TL, Good C, Harwood E, Wagenaar AC. State laws mandating or promoting training programs for alcohol servers and establishment managers: An assessment of statutory and administrative procedures. Journal of Public Health Policy 2002;23(1):90-113 .