When young soldiers drink: The impact of legal access to alcohol among U.S. Army soldiers

Abstract

We study the impacts of legal access to alcohol on young U.S. Army soldiers. Regression discontinuity estimates reveal that soldiers report a large and significant increase in alcohol consumption after their 21st birthday; however, we precisely estimate that there are no meaningful impacts of legal access on any of the short-term outcomes we observe, including suicidal tendencies, depression, tobacco use, physical fitness, psychological health, fitness for combat deployment, and job-related infractions. Novel data on soldier's cognitive ability, psychological health, and family history allow us to explore whether the impacts of legal access vary by risk factors for alcohol abuse. While the increases in alcohol consumption were largest among those who had a family history of mental health problems, had better coping ability, and had higher cognitive ability, these subgroups did not uniformly experience adverse behavioral and physical outcomes upon gaining legal access to alcohol.