IMRaD Report
Lowering the legal drinking age in
the U.S. to 18
Abstract
Many views
on lowering the drinking age to 18 and how it can reduce many unnecessary risks
and problems related to underage drinking in the U.S. have grown recently. To
study this 5 people from each age group from 17-20, 21-30, 31-45, and 46+ were questioned
on whether or not they think the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. This
research shows that overall people do not believe that the legal drinking age
should be lowered by 2 votes. This suggests that not as many people agree with lowering
the drinking age as were predicted.
Introduction
Research
from the early 1980s until the present has shown a continuous decrease in
drinking and driving related variables which has parallel the nation's, and
also university students, decrease in per capita consumption. However, these
declines started in 1980 before the national 1987 law which mandated states to
have 21 year old alcohol purchase laws (Ruth C. Engs). Since the drinking age
has been 21 there have been many dangerous problems related with underage
drinking. The views of people living in the U.S. from the ages of 17 and up and
whether or not they agree with the current drinking age is not very clear and collecting
these results will help get a better understanding of what our U.S. citizens
want.
Method
Participants:
20 people living in the U.S. were asked their view on lowering the drinking age.
5 from each age group from 17-20, 21-30, 31-45, and 46 and up.
Procedure:
Each participant was simply asked a set of questions that show their points of
view on the current drinking age. Each participant was asked
1. If they think the legal drinking age
should be lowered to 18.
2. If they agree with the current legal
drinking age.
3. If they think the legal drinking age
should be raised from 21.
Results
Table 1
shows that actually when taking the public’s opinion into consideration people
who don’t agree with lowering the legal drinking age to 18 outweigh the people
that agree. Out of 20 participants, 11 of them did not agree with lowering the
legal drinking age, and only 9 actually believed that it should be lowered.
Table1:
|
Age Group
|
Agree with
lowering drinking age
|
Disagree with
lowering drinking age
|
|
17-20
|
4
|
1
|
|
21-30
|
2
|
3
|
|
31-45
|
2
|
3
|
|
46+
|
1
|
4
|
Discussion
This study
shows that even with all of the troubles and abuse of alcohol consumption by under
aged young adults more people believe that the legal drinking of 21 should not
be lowered to 18. These participants were not informed of the common problems
that occur with the drinking age being above 18. It is possible that if these
participants would’ve been informed of these problems that they may have
changed their views. This study is also only limited to a small group of 20
participants which isn’t a very large group when wanting to consider the outlooks
of the people living in the U.S. Further research in other states and regions
in the U.S. would bring in much more data in places all over the U.S. to create
more accurate data.
Works Cited
Engs, Ruth C. (1997,
2014). Why the drinking age should be lowered: An opinion based upon research.
Indiana University: Bloomington, IN. Retrieved from IUScholarWorks
