FEDERAL RESEARCH PROGRAM ON DRUGS End report ALCOLAW The Law of 2009 concerning the selling and serving of alcohol to youths: from state of the art to assessment Contract - DR/00/071 Coördinator and promotors: dr. Tina Van Havere, HoGent Prof. dr. Bénédicte Deforche & Prof. dr. Freya Vander Laenen, UGent Prof. dr. Cécile Mathys & Prof. dr. André Lemaître, ULG Researchers and partners: Nicky Dirkx & Peer Van der Kreeft, HoGent dr. Bart De Clercq, Thomas Buijs, & dr. Joris Van Damme, UGent dr. Sarah van Praet & Adam El Houti, ULG Project DR/00/071 - The Law of 2009 concerning the selling and serving of alcohol to youths: from state of the art to assessment - ALCOLAW Published in 2017 by the Belgian Science Policy Avenue Louise 231 Louizalaan 231 B-1050 Brussels Belgium Tel: +32 (0)2 238 34 11 - Fax: +32 (0)2 230 59 12 http://www.belspo.be Contact person: Aziz Naji Tel: +32 (0)2 238 36 46 Neither the Belgian Science Policy nor any person acting on behalf of the Belgian Science Policy is responsible for the use which might be made of the following information. The authors are responsible for the content. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without indicating the reference : Van Havere, T., Dirkx, N., Vander Laenen, F., De Clercq, B., Buijs, T., Mathys, C., van Praet S., Deforche B., El Houti, A., Van Damme, J., Van der Kreeft, P., & Lemaïtre A. The Law of 2009 concerning the selling and serving of alcohol to youths: from state of the art to assessment. Final Report. Brussels : Belgian Science Policy 2017 – 239p. (BRAIN-be - (Belgian Research Action through Interdisciplinary Networks) Federal Research Programme Drugs 2 Project DR/00/071 - The Law of 2009 concerning the selling and serving of alcohol to youths: from state of the art to assessment - ALCOLAW Contents Introduction 6 Chapter 1: Literature review of the minimum legal drinking age 9 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 10 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Effectiveness of the minimum legal drinking age ..................................................................... 12 Research designs 12 Research overview 13 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 19 Chapter 2: Logic model of adolescent alcohol consumption 25 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 26 1.1 Demand for alcohol................................................................................................................... 28 Drinking beliefs 28 External influences 29 Drinking context 30 1.2 Supply of alcohol ....................................................................................................................... 31 1.2.1 Retail availability 31 1.2.2 Social availability 32 1.2.3 Economic availability 32 1.3 Other intermediate variables .................................................................................................... 33 1.3.1 Marketing 33 1.3.2 Community Norms 34 1.3.3 Enforcement of the Minimum Legal Drinking Age 35 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 37 Chapter 3: Trends in alcohol consumption 45 1.1 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 46 1.1.1 Descriptive analysis 46 1.1.2 Regression analysis 61 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 81 Chapter 4: Trends in alcohol-related health outcomes 83 1.1 Alcohol-related health harm ..................................................................................................... 84 1.1.1 Background 84 1.1.2 Methodological considerations 85 1.2 Statistical analysis ..................................................................................................................... 86 1.2.1 Research questions 86 1.2.2 Data 86 1.2.3 Analyses 87 1.2.4 Results 87 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 96 Evaluating MLDA legislation: data availability and recommendations ................................................ 97 Chapter 5: Study of the knowledge and application of the 2009 legislation by young people and sellers 101 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 102 Part 1: Youths’ survey ......................................................................................................................... 103 1.1 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 103 Federal Research Programme Drugs 3 Project DR/00/071 - The Law of 2009 concerning the selling and serving of alcohol to youths: from state of the art to assessment - ALCOLAW 1.1.1 Descriptive results of the survey 103 1.1.2 Main results: Drinking profiles and the influence of parenting and knowledge of the law on drinking 108 1.2 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 112 Part 2: Sellers’ survey .......................................................................................................................... 114 1.3 Description of the sample ....................................................................................................... 114 1.4 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 115 1.4.1 Knowledge of the law 115 1.4.2 Discourse on selling practices 123 1.5 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 142 Conclusions and recommendations WP3 ........................................................................................... 146 Annexes ............................................................................................................................................... 150 1.6 Tables of descriptive tests of ANOVA analysis per LCA .......................................................... 150 1.7 Bonferroni testing ................................................................................................................... 155 Chapter 6: Feasibility study on test purchasing research (“mystery shopping”) 166 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 167 1.1 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 167 1.2 Part of an overall strategy ....................................................................................................... 167 1.3 Protocols: an overview............................................................................................................ 168 1.4 Three different purposes ........................................................................................................ 169 1.5 Test purchasing in Belgium ..................................................................................................... 169 1.5.1 Flanders 169 1.5.2 Brussels and Wallonia 171 1.5.3 On a federal level 171 1.6 Feasibility study with three parameters ................................................................................. 172 1.6.1 Ethical considerations 172 1.6.2 Operational considerations 174 1.6.3 Legal concerns 177 Conclusions and policy recommendations ......................................................................................... 178 Recommendations .............................................................................................................................. 178 Annex .................................................................................................................................................. 181 Chapter 7: A practice-based perspective on the 2009 legislation by prevention workers and health promoters 187 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 188 Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 188 1.1 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 190 1.1.1 Flanders 190 1.1.2 French Community 202 Discussion............................................................................................................................................ 215 1.1 Societal standards ..................................................................................................................