Hazardous Alcohol Drinking and Cross-National Homicide Rates: The Role of Demographic, Political, and Cultural Context

• Published date: 01 April 2018
• Author: Douglas B. Weiss,Alexander Testa,Mateus Rennó Santos
• Date: 01 April 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0022042617750579
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042617750579

Journal of Drug Issues

2018, Vol. 48(2) 246 –268

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0022042617750579

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Article

Hazardous Alcohol Drinking and

Cross-National Homicide Rates:

The Role of Demographic, Political,

and Cultural Context

Douglas B. Weiss1, Alexander Testa2,

and Mateus Rennó Santos2

Abstract

Cross-national research on the relationship between alcohol consumption and homicide

focuses on (a) the amount of alcohol consumed rather than the manner of consumption and

(b) the direct relationship between alcohol consumption and homicide rates. The current study

addresses these limitations by considering consumption patterns rather than consumption levels

and exploring whether the alcohol–homicide relationship is moderated by features of the social

structure including youth population size, quality of governance, and the prevalence of drinking.

Using a broad sample of 85 countries, we find no relationship between consumption levels and

homicide rates. In contrast, hazardous consumption patterns were positively associated with

homicide rates. Study results also suggest that the prevalence of drinking and the quality of

governance moderate this relationship.

Keywords

alcohol, cross-national, quality of governance, drinking prevalence, age structure

Introduction

An estimated 437,000 people throughout the globe were homicide victims in 2012 (United Nations

Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013) and over 3 million deaths were related to alcohol consumption

(World Health Organization [WHO], 2014b). One of the leading contributors to homicide perpetra-

tion and victimization is alcohol intoxication. A meta-analysis of 23 independent studies covering nine

different countries found that an average of 37% of offenders were intoxicated at the time of the

offense (Kuhns, Exum, Clodfelter, & Bottia, 2014). Single country studies in the United States (Parker,

1995), Australia (Dearden & Payne, 2009; Ramstedt, 2011), Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands

(Liem et al., 2013) find that about half of homicide offenders are intoxicated at the time of the incident.

Research in non-Western countries, including Russia (Pridemore, 2002, 2016), Eastern Europe (Bye,

2008), and South Africa (Swart, Seedat, & Nel, 2015), has also found a strong link between alcohol

and violence. Together, this body of research suggests that alcohol is a serious public health issue that

can affect interpersonal homicide (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013)

1California State University, San Bernardino, CA, USA

2University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

Corresponding Author:

Douglas B. Weiss, Department of Criminal Justice, California State University, San Bernardino,

5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA.

Email: dweiss@csusb.edu

750579JODXXX10.1177/0022042617750579Journal of Drug IssuesWeiss et al.

research-article2018

Weiss et al. 247

Existing cross-national homicide research has largely focused on the direct relationship

between population-level alcohol consumption and homicide rates (e.g., Chon, 2010, 2011;

Lester, 1995; Rossow, 2001). Although there appears to be a direct relationship between alcohol

consumption and homicide at the national level, an increasing number of studies at the micro (Ito,

Miller, & Pollock, 1996) and subnational levels (Norström, 2011; Parker, 1993; Parker & Rebhun,

1995) suggest the alcohol–homicide relationship is moderated by other factors. Accordingly, the

assumption of a direct relationship between alcohol and homicide may be an oversimplification

of a more complex phenomenon where “individual, situational, and sociocultural factors also

come into play” and which may aggravate or mitigate the negative consequences of alcohol con-

sumption (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013, p. 71).

Using a broad sample of countries from throughout the globe, the current study expands upon

prior literature by considering whether (a) population-level hazardous consumption patterns are

a better predictor of homicide rates than alcohol consumption rates, and (b) social contextual

factors moderate the relationship between alcohol consumption and homicide rates. The three

potential moderating factors that are considered are the size of the youth population, the quality

of governance, and the prevalence of alcohol consumption. In the following sections, we detail

the rationale for the theoretical link between alcohol consumption patterns and homicide, as well

as the reasons to believe these three contextual factors may moderate this relationship.

Alcohol Consumption and Homicide

The most straightforward link between alcohol and homicide is that alcohol has a direct, indepen-

dent effect on violence. Whereas this straightforward explanation has received little support at

the individual level (Collins, 1981; Fagan, 1990; Pernanen, 1981), existing cross-national homi-

cide research has almost exclusively focused on the direct relationship between alcohol and

homicide. In general, research on the alcohol–homicide relationship at the national and cross-

national levels tends to find a positive relationship with a 1-L increase in alcohol consumption

per year being associated with a 5% to 10% increase in homicide rates (Bye, 2007; Landberg &

Norström, 2011; Ramstedt, 2011; Stickley & Razvodovsky, 2012). These direct estimates, how-

ever, are largely based on studies that focus on the alcohol–homicide relationship in either one

country or a small number of countries over time and are often restricted to Western countries.

Only recently has research assessed the relationship between alcohol consumption and homicide

and found evidence that total per capita alcohol consumption is positively associated with homi-

cide rates across a large sample of countries (Hockin, Rogers, & Pridemore, 2017).

Hazardous Drinking Patterns

While most cross-national research investigating the link between alcohol use and homicide rates

focuses on levels of alcohol consumption among the population (Bye, 2007; Bye & Rossow,

2008; Hockin et al., 2017; Landberg & Norström, 2011; Ramstedt, 2011), a smaller number of

studies have explored whether patterns of alcohol consumption affect levels of violence (Bye,

2008; Felson, Savolainen, Bjarnason, Anderson, & Zohra, 2011; Hockin et al., 2017; Pridemore,

2002; Pridemore & Chamlin, 2006). There is, however, good reason to believe that consumption

patterns, such as heavy episodic drinking, are more strongly related to homicide rates than con-

sumption levels.

Consider two countries, A and B, which consume the same amount of alcohol. A large propor-

tion of individuals in country A consume moderate amounts of alcohol periodically (e.g., a glass

of wine during meals). The likelihood that these low levels of intoxication will reduce inhibitions

and contribute to aggressive and violent behavior is relatively small. In contrast, a smaller pro-

portion of the population in country B consumes large amounts of alcohol at once, which reduces