- Title
- Minimum purchasing age for alcohol and traffic crash injuries among 15-to 19-year-olds in New Zealand
- Creator
- Kypri, Kypros; Voas, Robert B.; Langley, John D.; Stephenson, Shaun C. R.; Begg, Dorothy J.; Tippetts, A. Scott; Davie, Gabrielle S.
- Relation
- American Journal of Public Health Vol. 96, Issue 1, p. 126-131
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2005.073122
- Publisher
- American Public Health Association
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2006
- Description
- Objectives: In 1999, New Zealand lowered the minimum purchasing age for alcohol from 20 to 18 years. We tested the hypothesis that this increased traffic crash injuries among 15- to 19-year-olds. Methods: Poisson regression was used to compute incidence rate ratios for the after to before incidence of alcohol-involved crashes and hospitalized injuries among 18- to 19-year-olds and 15- to 17-year-olds (20- to 24-year-olds were the reference). Results: Among young men, the ratio of the alcohol-involved crash rate after the law change to the period before was 12% larger (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.00, 1.25) for 18- to 19-year-olds and 14% larger (95% CI=1.01, 1.30) for 15- to 17-year-olds, relative to 20- to 24-year-olds. Among young women, the equivalent ratios were 51% larger (95% CI=1.17, 1.94) for 18- to 19-year-olds and 24% larger (95% CI=0.96, 1.59) for 15- to 17-year-olds. A similar pattern was observed for hospitalized injuries. Conclusions: Significantly more alcohol-involved crashes occurred among 15-to 19-year-olds than would have occurred had the purchase age not been reduced to 18 years. The effect size for 18- to 19-year-olds is remarkable given the legal exceptions to the pre-1999 law and its poor enforcement.
- Subject
- minimum purchasing age for alcohol; New Zealand; traffic crash injuries; alcohol-involved crashes; hospitalized injuries
- Identifier
- uon:1981
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/27759
- Identifier
- ISSN:0090-0036
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