PUBLIC OPINIONS ON ALCOHOL CONTROL POLICIES

This study investigates whether public support for certain alcohol control policies differs between U.S. black and white adults. It is hypothesized that (a) blacks will be more likely than whites to differ in their public preferences, and (b) ethnic differences in public opinion will be explained by the following intervening variables: drinking norms, drinking beliefs, attitudes regarding alcohol availability, alcohol consumption, alcohol problems, perceptions about the seriousness of alcohol problems, and alcohol media exposure. A national study of black and white adults living in the 48 contiguous United States is proposed. The black and white samples (n=1800) will be selected using Random Digit Dial (RDD) procedures; blacks will be oversampled using a RDD black targeted sampled provided by Survey Sampling, Inc. The research design has three components: a media content analysis of black and mainstream newspapers, a psychometric sub-analysis, and a general population telephone survey. The content analysis and psychometric sub-analysis are designed to produce valid measures of public opinion regarding alcohol control policies in African-American and white populations. The study is intended to lay the necessary conceptual and theoretical groundwork for designing and implementing community-based interventions in African-American communities. A study of public opinion on alcohol control policies is an excellent starting point in developing community-based interventions designed to change community practices and policies surrounding alcohol use. Public opinion serves as a social barometer of prevailing attitudes towards alcohol use; it can also serve as a useful measure of the level of support for local policies and practices designed to reduce alcohol problems in African-American and other communities.