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State Alcohol Policies Most Strongly Associated With College Students' Drinking, Driving Risks, and Alcohol-Related
Harold Bae1, David C R Kerr2, Timothy S Naimi3
1School of Nutrition and Public Health, College of Health, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
|June 24, 2026
Summary
State alcohol policies, particularly those focused on consumption and taxation, effectively reduce risky drinking and alcohol-related harms among college students. Youth-specific policies showed benefits for older students but not underage ones.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Substance Abuse Research
- Health Policy Analysis
Background:
- State-level alcohol policies are known to reduce excessive drinking and related harms.
- The effectiveness of these policies can differ based on policy type and the age group targeted.
- This study specifically investigates the impact of various alcohol policy subgroups on U.S. college students.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the associations between mutually exclusive subgroups of the Alcohol Policy Scale (APS) and alcohol use among U.S. college students.
- To assess the relationship between different alcohol policy types and alcohol-related negative consequences in this demographic.
- To determine if policy effectiveness varies by policy focus (consumption vs. impaired driving) and target population (general vs. youth-specific).
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from repeated cross-sectional surveys of 902,486 college students (ages 18-24) across 47 states from 2008-2019.
- Analyzed outcomes including past 2-week binge drinking, 30-day frequent alcohol use, driving after drinking, and 12-month negative consequences.
- Employed multilevel logistic and negative binomial models, adjusting for individual and institutional covariates and time trends, using three sets of mutually-exclusive APS policy subgroups.
Main Results:
- Stronger general population, consumption-oriented, and tax/non-tax policies correlated with reduced negative consequences, binge drinking, and frequent alcohol use.
- Youth-specific policies were linked to lower binge drinking rates in students aged 21-24, but not in those aged 18-20.
- Impaired-driving policies specifically reduced driving after drinking, while consumption-oriented policies lowered overall alcohol use and related harms.
Conclusions:
- Population-based alcohol policies, including taxation, demonstrate a protective effect against risky drinking behaviors and associated harms in college students.
- The findings underscore the importance of policy design and target population in mitigating alcohol-related issues among young adults.
- Tailoring policies to specific age groups, like differentiating between underage and legal-drinking-age students, can optimize effectiveness.
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