Craig S. Ross

The Relationship Between Gun Ownership and Firearm Homicide Rates in the United States, 1981–2010

OBJECTIVES We examined the relationship between levels of household firearm ownership, as measured directly and by a proxy-the percentage of suicides committed with a firearm-and age-adjusted firearm homicide rates at the state level. METHODS We conducted a negative binomial regression analysis of panel data from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting Systems database on gun ownership and firearm homicide rates across all 50 states during 1981 to 2010. We determined fixed effects for year, accounted for clustering within states with generalized estimating equations, and controlled for potential state-level confounders. RESULTS Gun ownership was a significant predictor of firearm homicide rates (incidence rate ratio = 1.009; 95% confidence interval = 1.004, 1.014). This model indicated that for each percentage point increase in gun ownership, the firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9%. CONCLUSIONS We observed a robust correlation between higher levels of gun ownership and higher firearm homicide rates. Although we could not determine causation, we found that states with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides.

Brand‐Specific Consumption of Alcohol Among Underage Youth in the United States

BACKGROUND Little is known about brand-specific alcohol consumption among underage youth, as existing information is collected at the level of alcoholic beverage type. This study identifies the alcohol brands consumed by a nationally representative sample of underage youth in the United States. METHODS We obtained a national sample of 1,032 underage youth, aged 13 to 20, using a pre-recruited Internet panel maintained by Knowledge Networks. Youth aged 18 to 20 were recruited directly from the panel via email invitation. Teens aged 13 to 17 were identified by asking adult panelists to identify a member of their household. The survey assessed the past 30-day consumption of 898 brands of alcohol among 16 alcoholic beverage types, including the frequency and amount of each brand consumed in the past 30 days. Market share for a given brand was calculated by dividing the total number of drinks for that brand in the past 30 days across the entire sample by the total number of drinks for all identified brands. RESULTS The alcohol brands with highest prevalence of past 30-day consumption were Bud Light (27.9%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 23.3 to 32.4%), Smirnoff malt beverages (17.0%, 95% CI 12.9 to 21.1%), and Budweiser (14.6%, 95% CI 11.0 to 18.3%). Brand market share was concentrated in a relatively small number of brands, with the top 25 brands accounting for nearly half of all market shares. CONCLUSIONS Underage youth alcohol consumption, although spread out over several alcoholic beverage types, is concentrated among a relatively small number of alcohol brands. This finding has important implications for alcohol research, practice, and policy.

Association Between Adolescent Viewership and Alcohol Advertising on Cable Television

OBJECTIVES We examined whether alcohol advertising on cable television is associated with adolescent viewership. METHODS Using Nielsen data for every national cable alcohol advertisement from 2001 to 2006 (608 591 ads), we examined whether ad incidence in a given advertising time slot was associated with adolescent viewership (i.e., the percentage of the audience that was aged 12-20 years) after we controlled for other demographic variables. RESULTS Almost all alcohol ads appeared in time slots with audiences made up of 30% or fewer underage viewers. In these time slots (standardized by duration and number of viewers), each 1-percentage-point increase in adolescent viewership was associated with more beer (7%), spirits (15%), and alcopop (or low-alcohol refresher; 22%) ads, but fewer wine (-8%) ads (P < .001 for all). For spirits and alcopops, associations were stronger among adolescent girls than among adolescent boys (P < .001 for each). CONCLUSIONS Ad placements for beer, spirits, and alcopops increased as adolescent viewership rose from 0% to 30%, especially for female viewers. Alcohol advertising practices should be modified to limit exposure of underage viewers.

Breakfast cereal industry pledges to self-regulate advertising to youth: will they improve the marketing landscape?

In 2007, the Council of Better Business Bureaus created the Childrens Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative to improve the nutritional profile of products marketed to children in the United States. We provide quantitative baseline data describing (a) the amount of child-directed breakfast cereal advertising in 2007; (b) an assessment of the nutritional value for all cereals advertised on television; and (c) the relationship between nutrition quality and child exposure to television advertising for major cereal brands. In 2007, the average American child viewed 757 cereal ads, and 98 per cent of these ads promoted unhealthy cereals that would be prohibited from advertising to children in the United Kingdom. Healthy cereals were advertised in 2007 in the United States, but adults, not children, were predominantly exposed to these ads. These quantitative methods can be used in the future to evaluate the impact of industry self-regulation efforts to improve the marketing landscape.

The Relationship Between Gun Ownership and Stranger and Nonstranger Firearm Homicide Rates in the United States, 1981–2010

OBJECTIVES We examined the relationship between gun ownership and stranger versus nonstranger homicide rates. METHODS Using data from the Supplemental Homicide Reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Reports for all 50 states for 1981 to 2010, we modeled stranger and nonstranger homicide rates as a function of state-level gun ownership, measured by a proxy, controlling for potential confounders. We used a negative binomial regression model with fixed effects for year, accounting for clustering of observations among states by using generalized estimating equations. RESULTS We found no robust, statistically significant correlation between gun ownership and stranger firearm homicide rates. However, we found a positive and significant association between gun ownership and nonstranger firearm homicide rates. The incidence rate ratio for nonstranger firearm homicide rate associated with gun ownership was 1.014 (95% confidence interval=1.009, 1.019). CONCLUSIONS Our findings challenge the argument that gun ownership deters violent crime, in particular, homicides.

Alcohol brand preferences of underage youth: Results from a pilot survey among a national sample

ABSTRACT This study is the first investigation to explore the alcohol brand preferences of underage youth via a national survey. The authors conducted a pilot study of a new, Internet-based alcohol brand survey with 108 youth aged 16 to 20 years who were recruited from an existing panel and had consumed alcohol in the past month. The authors ascertained respondents’ consumption of each of 380 alcohol brands during the past 30 days, including which brands of alcohol were consumed during heavy drinking episodes. The findings suggest that, despite the wide variety of alcohol brands consumed by older adolescents in this study, the volume of alcohol consumed is concentrated among a relatively small number of brands. Accurate measurements of alcohol brand preferences will enable important new research into the factors that influence youth drinking behavior. This study establishes the feasibility and validity of a new methodology to determine patterns of brand-specific alcohol consumption among underage drinkers.

Adolescent Exposure to Alcohol Advertising in Magazines: An Evaluation of Advertising Placement in Relation to Underage Youth Readership

PURPOSE To investigate whether alcoholic beverages popular among underage youths are more likely than those less popular among these youths to be advertised in magazines with high underage youth readerships. METHODS We compared the alcohol advertisement placement in 118 magazines during the period 2002 to 2006 for alcoholic beverages popular among youths to that of alcoholic beverages less likely to be consumed by youths. Using a random effects probit model, we examined the relationship between a magazines youth (ages 12-20) readership and the probability of youth or nonyouth alcoholic beverage types being advertised in a magazine, controlling for young adult (ages 21-34) readership, cost of advertising, and other factors. RESULTS Youth alcoholic beverage types were significantly more likely to be advertised in magazines with higher youth readership. Holding all other variables constant, the ratio of the probability of a youth alcoholic beverage type being advertised to that of a nonyouth alcoholic beverage type being advertised in a given magazine increased from 1.5 to 4.6 as youth readership increased from 0% to 40%. In magazines with the highest levels of youth readership, youth alcoholic beverage types were more than four times more likely to be advertised than nonyouth alcoholic beverage types. CONCLUSIONS Alcoholic beverages popular among underage youths are more likely than those less popular among youths to be advertised in magazines with high youth readerships.

Evidence of underage targeting of alcohol advertising on television in the United States: Lessons from the Lockyer v. Reynolds decisions

Underage alcohol use is a global public health problem and alcohol advertising has been associated with underage drinking. The alcohol industry regulates itself and is the primary control on alcohol advertising in many countries around the world, advising trade association members to advertise only in adult-oriented media. Despite high levels of compliance with these self-regulatory guidelines, in several countries youth exposure to alcohol advertising on television has grown faster than adult exposure. In the United States, we found that exposure for underage viewers ages 18–20 grew from 2005 through 2011 faster than any adult age group. Applying a method adopted from a court in the US to identify underage targeting of advertising, we found evidence of targeting of alcohol advertising to underage viewers ages 18–20. The courts rule appeared in Lockyer v. Reynolds (The People ex rel. Bill Lockyer v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, GIC764118, 2002). We demonstrated that alcohol companies were able to modify their advertising practices to maintain current levels of adult advertising exposure while reducing youth exposure.

Brand-specific consumption of flavored alcoholic beverages among underage youth in the United States.

Abstract Background: Although several studies have identified flavored alcoholic beverages (FABs) as being popular among underage drinkers, no previous study has ascertained the prevalence of brand-specific FAB consumption among a national sample of underage youth. Objectives: To ascertain the brand-specific consumption prevalence and consumption share of FABs among a national sample of underage drinkers in the United States. Methods: In 2012, we conducted an online, self-administered survey of a national sample of 1031 underage drinkers, ages 13–20 years, to determine the prevalence of past 30-day consumption for each of 898 alcoholic beverage brands, including 62 FABs, and each brands youth consumption share, based on the estimated total number of standard drinks consumed. There were three brand-specific outcome measures: prevalence of consumption, prevalence of consumption during heavy episodic drinking, and consumption share, defined as the percentage of the total drinks consumed by all respondents combined that was attributable to a particular brand. Results: The FAB brands with the highest prevalence of past 30-day consumption were Smirnoff malt beverages, 17.7%; Mikes, 10.8%; Bacardi malt beverages, 8.0%; and Four Loko/Four MaXed, 6.1%. Just five brands accounted for almost half (49.1%) of the total consumption share by volume within the FAB category. Conclusion: Flavored alcoholic beverages are highly popular among underage drinkers, and the FAB brand preferences of this group are highly concentrated among a small number of brands. To decrease the consumption of FABs by underage youth, all states should reclassify these beverages as distilled spirits rather than beer.

The relationship between exposure to brand-specific alcohol advertising and brand-specific consumption among underage drinkers – United States, 2011–2012

ABSTRACT Background: Marketing is increasingly recognized as a potentially important contributor to youth drinking, yet few studies have examined the relationship between advertising exposure and alcohol consumption among underage youth at the brand level. Objectives: To examine the relationship between brand-specific exposure to alcohol advertising among underage youth and the consumption prevalence of each brand in a national sample of underage drinkers. Methods: We analyzed the relationship between population-level exposure of underage youth ages 12–20 to brand-specific alcohol advertising in national magazines and television programs and the 30-day consumption prevalence – by brand – among a national sample of underage drinkers ages 13–20. Underage youth exposure to alcohol advertising by brand for each month in 2011, measured in gross rating points (GRPs, a standard measure of advertising exposure), was obtained from GfK MRI (a media consumer research company) and Nielsen for all measured national issues of magazines and all national television programs, respectively. The 30-day consumption prevalence for each brand was obtained from a national survey of 1031 underage drinkers conducted between December 2011 and May 2012. Results: Underage youth were more than five times more likely to consume brands that advertise on national television and 36% more likely to consume brands that advertise in national magazines. The consumption prevalence of a brand increased by 36% for each 1.5 standard deviation (50 GRPs) increase in television adstock among underage youth and by 23% for each 1.5 standard deviation (10 GRPs) increase in magazine adstock. Conclusion: These findings suggest that alcohol advertising influences an important aspect of drinking behavior – brand choice – among youth who consume alcohol.