--- title: Study: Another Reason to Keep the Drinking Age at 21 description: Young women who came of age in the late 1960s and '70s, when many states had lowered their legal drinking ages to under 21, remained... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7139949/study-another-reason-to-keep-the-drinking-age-at-21/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-11-16T15:15:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T10:42:42.734Z article:section: Health og:title: Study: Another Reason to Keep the Drinking Age at 21 og:description: Young women who came of age in the late 1960s and '70s, when many states had lowered their legal drinking ages to under 21, remained... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7139949/study-another-reason-to-keep-the-drinking-age-at-21/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2109696998d0c8c8/698a9404c9e941c4de123a84/youth_drinks.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 307 og:image:height: 173 og:image:alt: youth_drinks og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study: Another Reason to Keep the Drinking Age at 21 twitter:description: Young women who came of age in the late 1960s and '70s, when many states had lowered their legal drinking ages to under 21, remained... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2109696998d0c8c8/698a9404c9e941c4de123a84/youth_drinks.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # Study: Another Reason to Keep the Drinking Age at 21 > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=cde8b7e1-bc16-4312-8c43-bd6fe80deef4&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Nov 16, 2011 3:15 PM UTC  Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Nov 16, 2011 3:15 PM UTC Young women who came of age in the late 1960s and ’70s, when many states had lowered their legal drinking ages to under 21, remained at higher risk of suicide and homicide into adulthood, a new study finds.more After Prohibition, most states had a drinking age of 21\. But many lowered the legal age in ’60s and ’70s, when the voting age was simultaneously moved down and men as young as 18 were being drafted to serve in Vietnam, explained Richard A. Grucza, an epidemiologist at Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, and an author of the study. Grucza and his colleagues observed that young people born in states that allowed drinking under 21 had higher rates of [drug and alcohol problems](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/118/3/e755.full). And other previous research had found that drunk driving accidents, homicides and suicides spiked in states with lower drinking ages during the time those laws were in effect. So, Grucza and his team decided to see if such shifts in the drinking age had longer-term effects. “We saw drinking-age changes as a ‘natural experiment’ to see what happens to young people who have easy access to alcohol compared to those whose access is restricted,” said Grucza in a [statement](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2011-11/ace-hml110811.php). The researchers looked at data from 1990-2004 U.S. Multiple Cause of Death files and the U.S. Census and American Community Survey, and found that there were more than 200,000 suicides and 130,000 homicides among people who turned 18 between 1967 and 1989, the years during which the legal drinking age was still moving. (The National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed in 1984, setting the legal age at 21 for all states.) Researchers found that the risks of suicide and homicide remained higher into adulthood for young people living in states that had lowered their drinking age — but the risks applied only to women. Women who grew up in under-21 states had a 12% higher risk of suicide and 15% higher risk of homicide in adulthood, compared with those in states with a higher drinking age. It’s not clear why the effect is seen in women, but not in men, but as Grucza [noted](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2011-11/ace-hml110811.php): --- > “” --- Based on their data, the researchers estimated that the national drinking age of 21 prevents 600 homicides and 600 suicides each year. The debate over legal drinking continues to be couched in terms of personal liberties, however. “Alcohol-control policies are always controversial, as many people are generally in opposition to laws which seem to govern individual choices and behavior,” noted Katherine M. Keyes, a postdoctoral fellow in epidemiology at Columbia University, who was involved the study, in a [statement](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2011-11/ace-hml110811.php). As ABC News’ Jane E. Allen [reported](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2011/11/15/study-under-21-drinking-has-lasting-harms-for-women/): --- > “” --- But lowering the drinking age isn’t the answer, said Grucza and Keyes, who view the national limit as a matter of public health, rather than personal freedom. Research suggests that the effects of drugs and alcohol may be especially long-lasting on teenagers’ still-developing brains, they said. “\[T\]his study is an important reminder of the public-health effectiveness of controlling alcohol at the population level during a very critical time in development. These data underscore that, especially for young women, drinking during young adulthood can lead to a wide range of consequences throughout the life course,” [said](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2011-11/ace-hml110811.php) Keyes. _Meredith Melnick is a reporter at_ TIME_. Find her on Twitter at_ [_@MeredithCM_](http://twitter.com/#%21/MeredithCM)_. You can also continue the discussion on_ TIME’s[_Facebook page_](http://www.facebook.com/time) _and on Twitter at_ [_@TIME_](http://twitter.com/#%21/TIME)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7139949/study-another-reason-to-keep-the-drinking-age-at-21/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7139949/study-another-reason-to-keep-the-drinking-age-at-21/"},"headline":"Study: Another Reason to Keep the Drinking Age at 21","datePublished":"2011-11-16T15:15:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T10:42:42.734Z","description":"Young women who came of age in the late 1960s and '70s, when many states had lowered their legal drinking ages to under 21, remained...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7139949/study-another-reason-to-keep-the-drinking-age-at-21/","keywords":["Suicide","Murder","violence"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2109696998d0c8c8/698a9404c9e941c4de123a84/youth_drinks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2109696998d0c8c8/698a9404c9e941c4de123a84/youth_drinks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"youth_drinks","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7139949/study-another-reason-to-keep-the-drinking-age-at-21/","name":"Study: Another Reason to Keep the Drinking Age at 21"}}]}] ```