Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research | NIAAA

Epidemiology of Alcohol Problems: Alcohol-Related Disparities Research Center

The Alcohol Research Group's Alcohol Research Center has contributed major conceptual and methodological advances for over 40 years. The Center studies the complex interactions between drinking patterns across the life-course, demographic characteristics, sociocultural and drinking contexts, community and policy factors, and alcohol-related problem and services outcomes, both in the general population and with attention to high-risk groups.

Environmental Approaches to Prevention Alcohol Research Center)

The Prevention Research Center's long-running Alcohol Research Center takes a multidisciplinary approach to prevention research that emphasizes integration across theories from the biological to the behavioral and social sciences to enhance understanding of the causal impacts of drinking environments on drinking patterns and problems. Over the past four decades the Center has led research into the development of community-based approaches to the prevention of alcohol abuse and related problems, focused upon assessments of the impacts of local, state and national alcohol policies on alcohol sales and population outcomes related to use (e.g., motor vehicle crashes and violence), and developed social ecological models of youth and adult use and problems that elucidate the impacts of environmental conditions on youth, young adult, and adult problems related to alcohol.  These contributions have directed research toward the fundamental contributions that alcohol and other drug environments make to population and individual risks for heavy alcohol use, abuse, problems and alcohol use disorders.

The Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) is an online data resource that provides authoritative, detailed, and comparable information on alcohol-related policies at the state and federal levels in the United States based on primary legal research on the statutes and regulations. APIS was developed by DEPR to facilitate research on the effects and effectiveness of alcohol-related public policies. APIS provides detailed coverage, including exact effective dates and legal citations, for 36 specific policy topics in 10 categories. For every policy topic, APIS provides detailed comparison tables showing both up-to-date policy information and policy changes over time with exact effective dates. APIS also provides descriptive overviews, maps and charts, summaries of relevant federal law, and detailed explanatory notes. APIS also covers laws and regulations addressing cultivation, sale, and use of recreational (i.e., non-medical) cannabis in states that have legalized these activities. Special coverage is also provided of state policies affecting alcohol availability adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Surveillance Reports periodically examine trends in apparent alcohol consumption, underage drinking among youth ages 12–20 years, and liver cirrhosis mortality in the United States. Alcohol Epidemiologic Data Reference Manuals (provided upon request) are statistical compendia of alcohol-related data useful to researchers and others interested in alcohol problems.