Self-reported versus administrative identification of American Indian and Alaska Native arrestees: effects on relative estimates of illicit drug use and alcohol abuse.

Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring program data were used to consider the effects of two methods of racial classification upon estimates of illicit drug use and alcohol abuse among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) arrestees. Overall, compared to arrestees who self-identified as Black, White, Asian/Pacific Islander, or Hispanic, arrestees self-identifying as AI/AN were most likely to be identified administratively as something other than AI/AN. Results of 'difference of difference' analyses indicate that differences in estimates of AI/AN versus non-AI/AN arrestees' illicit drug use and alcohol abuse were much more extreme when identification was based on administrative records than when based upon arrestees' self-reports.

Alcohol controls and violence in Nunavut: a comparison of wet and dry communities.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if communities in Nunavut that prohibit the importation of alcoholic beverages have less violence relative to communities that allow alcohol importation.

Study Design: A retrospective cross-sectional study based on community-level records of violent crimes known to the police.

Methods: Violence was measured using community-level records of homicide, assault and sexual assault as reported to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 23 communities in Nunavut for the years 1986 to 2006.

The validity of injury surveillance system measures of assault: a lesson from the study of violence in Alaska.

This article considers the validity of estimates of intentional violence using a statewide injury recording system: the Alaska Trauma Registry (ATR). One benefit of using data from an injury surveillance system is that its records are generated without police involvement, thereby reducing the likelihood of undercounting. However, there is reason to suspect that measures of violence derived from injury surveillance systems do not accurately measure underlying levels of assault in a population and are instead partly a reflection of influential patient characteristics.

Intimate partner violence against Athabaskan women residing in interior Alaska: results of a victimization survey.

A survey instrument mirroring the National Violence Against Women Survey was administered in person to measure the incidence and prevalence of intimate partner violence against Athabaskan women residing in the interior of Alaska. Roughly two thirds of respondents (63.7%) reported an intimate partner assault victimization at some point in their adult lifetime, and 18% of the respondents reported that they had been physically assaulted by an intimate partner in the year preceding the survey.

The price of alcohol: a consideration of contextual factors.

Background: The current study considers the determinants of prices charged for alcoholic beverages by on-premise and off-premise outlets in Alaska. Alcohol outlet densities, a surrogate measure for local retail competition, are expected to be negatively associated with prices while costs associated with distribution are expected to be positively related to prices. Community demographic and economic characteristics may affect observed local prices via the level of demand, retail costs borne by retailers, or the quality of brands offered for sale.

Local alcohol prohibition, police presence and serious injury in isolated Alaska Native villages.

Aims: To consider the effects of alcohol prohibition and police presence upon serious injury in isolated Alaska Native villages.

Design: We compared rates of injury attributed to assault, self-harm, motor vehicle collisions and 'other causes' between villages with or without local prohibition and between villages with or without local police. Negative binomial regression was used to assess the relative effects of prohibition and police presence upon serious injury rates net of potential confounders.