EARLY IMPACTS OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE WARNING LABELS - NATIONAL STUDY FINDINGS RELEVANT TO DRINKING AND DRIVING BEHAVIOR

After November, 1989 Federal law required a standard health warning la bel on all alcoholic beverage containers sold for consumption in the U .S. Results are reported from a cross-sectional national household tel ephone interview survey of adults, occurring approximately 6 months af ter implementation of the warning labels (N = 2000). Implications for health warnings with respect to information processing theory, the Hea lth Belief Model, and other theories relevant to precaution adoption a re briefly reviewed and two derivative hypotheses are tested using log -linear analysis. Relationships between various personal characteristi cs and (a) seeing the label and (b) recalling the driving impairment m essage are examined for consistency with theoretical expectations. We also examine associations between message recall, drinking style, and two precautionary behaviors undertaken to avoid drinking and driving. Adjusting for apparent false positives, approximately a quarter of the sample have noticed the label 6 months after its introduction; 16% re called the specific driving impairment message. As hypothesized, expos ure to the warning was predicted primarily by consumption pattern but also was associated with a personal salience factor, that is, ever hav ing drunk alcohol so as to be at risk when driving. About a quarter of the heavy drinkers (5 drinks or more per occasion sometime and drinki ng at least weekly) who ever drank and drove saw the specific warning. Of two self-regulation strategies - limiting driving after drinking a nd limiting drinking when about to drive - the latter was the more pre valent. Both strategies were reported more by those who were heavy dri nkers, those recalling the driving impairment message, and those perce iving driving after drinking to be very dangerous, than by other indiv iduals.