Norman A. Scotch

Impact of legislation raising the legal drinking age in Massachusetts from 18 to 20.

On April 16, 1979, Massachusetts raised its legal drinking age from 18 to 20 years. Massachusetts was compared with New York State, exclusive of New York City and Nassau County. New York State retained an 18-year-old drinking age. Random telephone surveys with approximately 1,000 16-19 year olds in each state were undertaken prior to the laws enactment and twice at yearly intervals after the law to assess the laws impact on teenage drinking, driving after drinking, and non-fatal accident involvement. Fatal crash data reported to the US Department of Transportation by each state from April 16, 1976-April 15, 1981 were also analyzed. After the law, although the modes of procuring alcohol changed. No significant changes were observed in Massachusetts relative to New York in the proportion of surveyed teenagers who reported that they drank or in the volume of their consumption. The proportion of teenagers who drove after drinking heavily (six or more drinks at one time) did not decline in Massachusetts relative to New York. However, the frequency that teenagers reported driving after any drinking declined significantly in Massachusetts. Frequency of teenage driving after marijuana use and non-fatal teenage accidents declined at comparable rates in both states. The numbers of teenage nighttime single vehicle fatal accidents declined more in Massachusetts than New York, in the 18-19 year age group. Overall fatal accident trends among 16-19 year olds in the two states were similar.

The Effects of Social Class on Parental Values and Practices

My thesis is straightforward and relatively simple: that there are substantial differences in how parents of differing social-class position raise their children; that these differences in parental practices result chiefly from class differences in parents’ values for their children; and that such class differences in parental values result in large measure from differences in the conditions of life experienced by parents at different social-class levels. This essay attempts to spell out this thesis more concretely and explicitly.1 Without getting into technical aspects of methodology, it also attempts to give some idea of the type of empirical evidence on which the generalizations are based.

Evidence for Cohort or Generational Differences in the Drinking Behavior of Older Adults

Data from a survey of 928 older Bostonians show that there is a negative correlation between age and alcohol consumption among older adults: i.e., “old-old” people-those who are seventy-five years old or older—are more likely to abstain and less likely to drink in any quantity than the “younger-old”—those aged sixty-seventy-five years old. Since the study collected only cross-sectional data, it is not clear whether there are developmental trends in alcohol consumption-that people drink less as they grow older—or whether there are cohort or generational effects. However, several retrospective data suggest that there are cohort or generational patterns of drinking behavior by older adults. Very old respondents, who now drink less than their younger counterparts, report consistently different patterns of life-long drinking habits; they report different parental drinking habits, and they have consistently different attitudes toward the effects of alcohol consumption upon health. The survey provides no insight into the nature of the historical factors which account for the differences in alcohol use. However, Prohibition, Repeal, and the Depression are likely to have played important roles.

Actions and Services for the New Family

In the 1970s, as in past decades, the same question is being raised: Will the family survive as a primary social system in the 21st century? The answer is a qualified yes—in that some form of family will persist, but the meaning it will have for its members, the structure of relationships, the way in which marital and parenting functions will be performed, and its durability over time are unknowns. Also, these future functions will vary extensively from the more commonly known and prevalent nuclear family form of procreation, where males traditionally hold gainfully employed roles and women are homemakers.