Built Environment: Examining Race, Class, and the Alcohol Outlet in the Urban Context

Abstract

     Alcohol availability is a part of the built environment.  The severity of alcohol-related problems a community experiences directly relates to the density of alcohol-selling outlets among its neighborhoods.  In addition to individual-level influences, community-level characteristics, such as alcohol outlet density, independently influence alcohol-related drinking norms, consumption, and health outcomes.  Given the high concentration of alcohol outlets across the urban landscape and the limited research on the structural determinants that may promote or sustain outlet proliferation, the purpose of this study is to identify the neighborhood structural characteristics associated with the promotion or growth of alcohol outlets; determine if the association varies by the type of alcohol outlet facility; and assess the impact of neighborhood indicators of race and class.  A negative binomial multivariate regression analysis was used to identify relevant neighborhood structural features significantly associated with alcohol outlet exposure among the census tracts of Washington, D.C. 

     Study findings indicate that the structural features of commercial land use, income, and residential status are significant correlates of a community’s exposure to the physical availability of alcohol.  Although the relationship is consistent, the magnitude of the association differs between outlet type and is conditioned on neighborhood composition.  The findings suggest that policies designed to control the proliferation of alcohol outlets among urban communities should be developed and executed at the local level and will possibly vary based on outlet type and community characteristics.