Reduction of Youth Monthly Alcohol Use Using the Positive Community Norms Approach

Reduction of Youth Monthly Alcohol Use Using the Positive Community Norms Approach

This research evaluated the impact of the Positive Community Norms (PCN) approach on (a) correcting misperceptions of norms of peer alcohol use and (b) reducing prevalence of monthly alcohol use among a sample of high-school students. A 5-year intervention (consisting of a mix of strategies centered...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child & adolescent social work journal Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 1 - 11
Main Authors: Linkenbach, Jeffrey W., Bengtson, Phyllis L., Brandon, Jaimie M., Fredrickson, Al J., Kilmer, Jason R., Lubbers, Darren T., Ooms, Jordan D., Roche, Valerie S., Thompson, Sara J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York Springer US 01-02-2021
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Adolescents
Alcohol use
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Coalitions
College students
Community
Community Programs
Community Relations
Community research
Drinking
Drug abuse
Drug Use
Grade 10
Human services
Intervention
National Surveys
Norms
Personality and Social Psychology
Polls & surveys
Population growth
Psychology
School districts
Secondary School Students
Secondary schools
Social research
Sociology
State Surveys
Students
Substance abuse
Misperceptions
Positive community norms
Youth alcohol prevention
Social norms
Media campaign
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Summary:This research evaluated the impact of the Positive Community Norms (PCN) approach on (a) correcting misperceptions of norms of peer alcohol use and (b) reducing prevalence of monthly alcohol use among a sample of high-school students. A 5-year intervention (consisting of a mix of strategies centered around promoting actual norms related to alcohol use) was implemented by community coalitions in 11 school districts selected by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Yearly assessments of teen substance abuse norms were conducted in each community, as well as surveys of parents and adults in the community. In the absence of control communities, national data from Monitoring the Future (MTF) (Miech et al. in Monitoring the future national survey results on drug use, 1975–2017: secondary school students, vol I [Monograph]. Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2018) were utilized as a comparison condition. At the end of the 5 years, 8th- and 10th-grade students in the PCN intervention communities were more likely to report never using alcohol than students in the MTF Survey comparison group. This finding was also true for 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students combined. This research provides evidence for utilizing the PCN approach to effectively correct misperceptions of norms and integrate strategies to reduce and prevent teen alcohol use at community population levels.
ISSN:0738-0151
1573-2797
DOI:10.1007/s10560-020-00666-4