Adolescents' experiences and perceived (dis)advantages of the three main outlet types for alcohol purchases.

Based on the existing literature, relevant determinants of availability for on-premises locations, off-premises locations, and the Internet were qualitatively explored and categorized by "experts" consisting of underage alcohol purchasers. In total, 14 focus group discussions were conducted with 94 Dutch adolescents. For on-premises locations, the high prices were perceived as the biggest disadvantage, and the ease to circumvent legal age limits as the biggest advantage.

Alcohol sales to underage buyers in the Netherlands in 2011 and 2013.

Purpose: Measuring vendors' compliance and possible change in compliance with the legal age limits on alcohol sales in 2011 and 2013.

Methods: In 2011 and 2013, representative mystery shopping studies were conducted. In total, 2,737 underage mystery shopping alcohol purchase attempts were conducted both in off-premise (supermarkets, liquor stores, and take away restaurants) and on-premise (bars and sports bars) outlets as well as from alcohol home delivery services.

Underage alcohol sales--it only takes a minute: a new approach to underage alcohol availability.

Objective: Because minors generally report higher accessibility than one would expect on the basis of the "compliance rates" established by researchers (the percentage of stores that comply with age limits for sales of age-restricted products such as alcoholic beverages), we propose a new method to better depict the availability of age-restricted products for minors as an alternative to the compliance approach, which in our view is too narrow.

Method: Underage mystery shoppers were assigned to buy alcohol in a store of their preference, using any (legally allowed) purchase method. The time required to buy alcohol was the main outcome variable.

One more beer? Serving alcohol to pseudo-intoxicated guests in bars.

Background: Consuming large quantities of alcohol might result in negative consequences for both individual drinkers (alcohol dependency and addiction) and society (violence, traffic crashes). In order to decrease the prevalence of alcohol abuse, many countries have adopted regulations prohibiting the catering industry to serve alcohol to intoxicated guests. This article investigated compliance with these regulations in the Netherlands.

Young poker faces: compliance with the legal age limit on multiple gambling products in the Netherlands.

Gambling is an activity that can be performed on-premise (slot machines in casinos, bars and restaurants) or off-premise (scratch cards and lottery tickets). Although the addictive potential may depend on the specific gambling product, early onset increases the likelihood for future pathological gambling. To delay the onset of gambling behavior and to reduce gambling-related problems, many countries have introduced age limits that should decrease the availability of gambling products to underage individuals.

Improving shop floor compliance with age restrictions for alcohol sales: effectiveness of a feedback letter intervention.

Purpose: In this study, we investigated the effects and handling of an intervention to increase compliance with age limits regarding alcohol sales. The intervention tested in this field experiment was a feedback letter sent to alcohol outlets about their individual compliance results based on a mystery shopping study.

Method: We measured compliance in 146 alcohol outlets (cafeterias, supermarkets, bars, liquor stores and youth centres) in one region in the Netherlands with 15-year-old mystery shoppers.

Why should I comply? Sellers' accounts for (non-)compliance with legal age limits for alcohol sales.

Background: Availability is an important predictor of early and excessive alcohol consumption by adolescents. Many countries have implemented age limits to prevent underage purchases of alcohol. However, shop-floor compliance with these age limits appears to be problematic.

Effects of a national information campaign on compliance with age restrictions for alcohol sales.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of a national information campaign, introduced by the Dutch Food Retail Organization, named "Under 20? Show Your ID!," on compliance with age restrictions on alcohol sales. The compliance level after the campaign was compared with a baseline compliance, that we calculated based on 458 preintervention compliance measurements.

Methods: Data were collected using the method of mystery shopping.

Determinants of parental support for governmental alcohol control policies.

Aim: To explore determinants that predict parental support for governmental alcohol control policies in the Netherlands.

Method: A questionnaire was administered among 1550 parents, containing six possible predictors to explain support for alcohol control policies.

Results: Parental support can be explained by five partly normative predictors (R(2)=.

Shop floor compliance with age restrictions for tobacco sales: remote versus in-store age verification.

To compare traditional in-store age verification with a newly developed remote age verification system, 100 cigarette purchase attempts were made by 15-year-old "mystery shoppers." The remote system led to a strong increase in compliance (96% vs. 12%), reflecting more identification requests and more sale refusals when adolescents showed their identification cards.

There's alcohol in my soap: portrayal and effects of alcohol use in a popular television series.

Two studies are reported addressing the media influences on adolescents' alcohol-related attitudes and behaviours. A content analysis was conducted to investigate the prevalence of alcohol portrayal in a Dutch soap series. The coding scheme covered the alcohol consumption per soap character, drinking situations and drinking times.

Mystery shopping and alcohol sales: do supermarkets and liquor stores sell alcohol to underage customers?

Purpose: The Dutch national policy regarding alcohol and youth relies on retailers' willingness to refuse to sell alcohol to underage customers. This study examined unobtrusively whether supermarkets and liquor stores do indeed comply with the legal age restrictions for alcohol sales.

Methods: A research protocol was developed based on the methodology of mystery shopping.