Local availability of alcohol linked to cases of child abuse and neglect

Local availability of alcohol linked to cases of child abuse and neglect

The number of stores that sell alcohol in a neighborhood is linked to cases of child abuse and neglect in the same area, a new study finds.

A study in Sacramento, California, found that having additional off-premises alcohol outlets - those that sold alcohol for consumption elsewhere - in a census tract was associated with 13.5% more substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect in that area within a year, and 10.5% more entries into foster care.

This was after taking into account a variety of other factors that could affect the number of child abuse cases in the neighborhood.

The results show the importance of alcohol availability in creating conditions that can lead to child abuse, said Bridget Freisthler, lead author of the study and a professor of social work at Ohio State University.

“The relationship between the alcohol environment and child abuse and neglect is complex,” Freisthler said.

“Individual interventions to reduce substance use will not fully address the problem without addressing the issue of alcohol supply.”

The study was recently published online in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

The study examined alcohol use and availability and child abuse and neglect in 326 census block groups in Sacramento over three time points (1999, 2001, and 2003).

Freisthler said she and her colleagues used this older data because it is very difficult to get such detailed, neighborhood-level data. She said she believes the relationships found in the study would still hold true today.

The researchers used a concept called “market potential,” which represents the total possible demand for a good—in this case, alcohol—in a defined range.

“Market potential refers to the number of bars, restaurants and off-premises alcohol outlets in a neighborhood,” Freisthler said.

“The market potential for alcohol consumption has not been assessed in a way that would allow us to understand how it might be linked to alcohol-related problems such as child abuse and neglect.”

The researchers used measures of child abuse and neglect from Child and Protective Services in Sacramento County. The focus of this study was on parents ages 18 to 29 because younger parents are most likely to be involved in child protective services.

In addition, alcohol consumption patterns were estimated from surveys of Sacramento residents who were asked about their alcohol consumption.

Alcohol outlets were counted using official state liquor license data.

The results showed that a 1% higher per capita volume of alcohol consumption in a neighborhood resulted in 3.2% more children entering foster care due to alcohol problems.

Freisthler pointed out that placing children in foster care represents a high threshold for determining that children are at risk due to their parents' alcohol consumption. This suggests that the goal should be to reduce overall alcohol consumption among 18- to 29-year-olds.

Strategies to reduce alcohol consumption, even among those who drink less alcohol, can reduce alcohol-related admissions into foster care.”

Bridget Freisthler, lead author of the study and professor of social work at Ohio State University

One important way to do this would be to make alcohol less readily available in the neighborhood.

“What happens is that these stores that sell alcohol are placed in neighborhoods where, for example, they have more young people who also tend to drink more,” Freisthler said.

"It perpetuates a cycle in which a population, young adults, that tends to drink more gets easier access to alcohol, which leads to more drinking. And the end result is more child abuse."

The study found that the presence of a store that sells alcohol - a measure of alcohol availability - was linked to child abuse and neglect, even after controlling for the alcohol market potential of 18- to 29-year-olds living in the neighborhood.

“This suggests that the location of an outside outlet in a neighborhood may influence child maltreatment outside of the alcohol consumption of those living there,” Freisthler said.

“We need to pay more attention to how the supply and availability of alcohol impacts child abuse if we really want to make a difference.”

The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Co-authors of the study were Christiana Kranich, senior research analytics specialist at the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center; Jennifer Price Wolf of San Jose State University; Reiko Boyd of the University of Houston; and Paul Gruenewald from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

Source:

Ohio State University

Reference:

Freisthler, B., et al. (2022) Neighborhood market potentials for alcohol consumption and rates of child abuse and neglect. Clinical and experimental research on alcoholism. doi.org/10.1111/acer.14975.

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