Happy Hours Gone Wrong: The Impact of Alcohol Consumption on Suicide

• In Event: Suicide and Mental Health Inequities in the U.S.: Evidence from Policy, Place, and Practice

Abstract

In 2021, 48,200 people committed suicide in the U.S., with the male rate four times higher than the female rate. In the same year, 155 million adults (60%) reported drinking alcohol. Given the widespread prevalence of alcohol consumption, sixteen states have implemented bans or restrictions on happy hours, prohibiting businesses from offering discounts or price promotions, initially aimed at reducing drunk driving and excessive drinking. This study for 2003–2021 uses suicide data from the CDC and alcohol consumption data from BRFSS, with a two-stage least squares approach with Happy Hour policies as an instrumental variable for alcohol consumption. The first-stage results confirm that the policies significantly reduce alcohol consumption. In the second stage, a 1% increase in alcohol consumption leads to 0.504 additional suicides per 100,000 people, with 3.6 times greater impacts on white males (0.620) than on white females (0.174). These findings suggest stricter Happy Hour restrictions could reduce both alcohol consumption and suicide rates. 

Author

• Archi Arnob, University of Kansas
  Presenting Author