The Who, How, and Why of Youth Alcohol Access Through Stores

By Sarah Okey, PhD, LCB Research Manager

The 2023 Healthy Youth Survey results are in! Here are findings showing the percent of students who used alcohol in the past 30 days and to what extent youth get alcohol from stores:

These findings show that although (1) most students do not use alcohol and (2) most students who do get alcohol do not get it from stores, there are some youth who access alcohol from a retailer.

If buying alcohol is only allowed for those 21 years and older, how does someone under 21 get it from a store? Here are some possibilities:

• Youth use their real ID but their date of birth is not checked or is incorrectly verified
• Youth use a fake ID, and that fake ID scans or is seemingly authentic
• Youth do not use any ID because their age is inaccurately assumed, or
• Youth are take alcohol from the store without buying it

The possibilities above of how youth get alcohol seems like an easy fix; prevent access from stores by having clerks not sell to minors and put alcohol in places that are difficult to steal.

But research shows that why youth are able to get alcohol by using the methods above, the real source of continued youth access is a bit more complex. Here some reasons it can be happening; because employees:

• Are unable to accurately estimate a buyer’s age
• Have fear related to refusing a sale or having to recheck an ID
• Feel reluctant or too busy to check IDs
• Do not understand why youth access is problematic to begin with
• Have minimal consequences if they do sell to youth, or
• Do not feel responsible if youth gain access to alcohol

Notably, addressing the reasons above is the primary way to tackle to and further reduce rates of youth access to alcohol from stores.

LCB, researchers, public health, license holders, and community members can all work to further educate the why youth alcohol use is dangerous, normalize ID checking when alcohol is being purchased, and empower clerks and store owners to adopt practices that further reduce youth access. It is through these continued and future efforts that will address the why, reduce the how, and prevent the who.

Special thanks to the Healthy Youth Survey Team and our Public Health and Education Liaison Kristen Haley for their amazing work on this year’s HYS results.