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Communities with strict "social host" laws may help reduce the rate of underage drinking, according to a new study.

Researchers found that teens living in neighborhoods that hold adults responsible when underage drinkers consume alcohol on their property are less likely to spend their weekends drinking at parties.

The latest study involved 50 communities in California. Researchers noted that half of the communities included in the study had social host laws.

Lead researcher Mallie J. Paschall, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at the Prevention Research Center in Oakland, California, found that teens living in communities with particularly strict social host laws were less likely to report drinking at parties. However, Paschall and her team note that the findings aren't necessarily causal.  

"These findings are preliminary. We can't say that social host laws definitely prevent kids from drinking at parties," Paschall said.

"Most kids get alcohol from social sources, not commercial ones," he noted, adding that laws aimed at social sources like parents or other adults of legal drinking age should in theory help cut rates of underage drinking.

"It does look like there is less-frequent drinking among teenagers in cities with stringent social host laws, even when other city and youth characteristics that are related to underage drinking are controlled for" Paschall said. "So these laws might be an effective strategy for reducing hazardous drinking."

Social host laws are made to target underage drinking by holding property owners responsible for underage drinking. Violators, even those who claim they didn't known about the underage drinking, will incur civil penalties like paying a hefty fine.

The findings are published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drug.