Cut Down on Drinking : Home and School

by National Institute of Health

(Page 2 of 4)

The Home

The sanctity of one's home and family is a long-standing American value. Some may feel that regulating alcohol service in private homes and at parties violates this sanctity. However, when adults recognize the problems and dangers associated with underage drinking and their legal responsibilities to prevent it, they understand the need for these regulations.

Change begins at home. For example, a recent study shows that children whose parents are involved in their lives-holding regular conversations, attending after-school events, listening to their problems-are less likely to drink or smoke. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has prepared a pamphlet called Make A Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol. This 24-page guide is geared to parents and guardians of young people ages 10 to 14. It contains a short description of the risks and problems associated with alcohol use among young people as well as actions parents can take to talk with children about these issues. It offers specific suggestions for teaching children how to say no to a drink, hosting alcohol-free parties for teens, and noticing the warning signs of drinking problems in children and adolescents.

"Parents Who Host, Lose The Most"

Too often, especially at graduation and prom time, well-meaning parents host parties at which they serve alcohol to their children and their children's friends. In their effort to provide a controlled event, they unwittingly support the idea that teen drinking is acceptable. The Ohio Parents for Drug Free Youth, working with The Ohio Task Force on Combating Underage Drinking, large corporations, and community groups, developed a Statewide project called "Parents Who Host, Lose The Most." The spokesperson for this partnership is First Lady Hope Taft. State corporations and local businesses convey the program's message, "Don't be a party to teenage drinking. It's against the law." on paycheck envelopes and grocery bags, on signs in store windows, and at checkout stands.

Reduce Availability

Prevent Availability to Minors in Homes - In some States, social host liability laws spell out the responsibilities of parents and other adults for providing alcohol to anyone under the age of 21 and the penalties for disobeying the laws. Public information campaigns can teach parents about these laws as well as their responsibility to keep alcohol where children and adolescents cannot get it.

Regulate Home Delivery - More than half the States in the United States allow home delivery of alcohol. However, jurisdictions can forbid or restrict home delivery of alcohol to prevent unsupervised alcohol sales. If communities choose not to ban home deliveries of alcohol, they can require that delivery people record the purchaser's ID. In the future, home delivery to underage persons may become a bigger problem as Internet purchases become more widespread.

Improve Enforcement

Break Up Parties - Large parties of underage drinkers pose a problem for police. On the one hand, police have a responsibility to get involved and make arrests or issue warnings. On the other hand, they know that young people may scatter to their cars when the police arrive, increasing the risk of crashes. Some jurisdictions have developed special police procedures that have been successful in breaking up large parties safely.

The School

As school-based prevention programs have become more guided by research, they have broadened their focus from the individual to include environmental influences and social norms, in particular the effects of peers. For example, studies show that sixth graders who think that more of their peers are drinking than actually are drinking are more likely to drink when compared with those students who learn that their peers do not approve of drinking.

Project Northland, developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota with a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, is a comprehensive alcohol use prevention program for students in grades six through eight. This program has successfully reduced alcohol use in this age group. The participants learn that fewer of their peers drink alcohol than they thought, how to resist pressure to drink, and to talk with their parents about what happens if they do drink.

Change Social Norms

Reinforce Acceptable Social Norms - Schools can establish alcohol policies that clearly state expectations and penalties regarding alcohol use by students. Such policies reinforce the norm that underage drinking will not be tolerated. School staff, students, parents, and the community must support and enforce such policies consistently in order to shape appropriate attitudes about alcohol among students.

A good school alcohol policy:

• States that alcohol and alcohol use are not allowed on school grounds, at school-sponsored activities, and while students are representing the school.
• Describes the consequences for violating the policy.
• Explains how to assess and refer students who abuse alcohol and guarantees that self-referral will be treated confidentially and will not be punished.
• Pays attention to due process issues in dealing with violators.
• Is cautious about imposing suspension and expulsion for violators because students who are away from school and unsupervised may spend the time drinking alcohol.

Offer Students Feedback About Use Rates - Schools can teach students actual alcohol use rates through education programs. Participants discuss how many students actually drink and whether drinking is a good idea. Students taught with this approach use alcohol less and have fewer related problems because they want to be in the majority.

Community awareness results in a peer mentoring program

In Haverhill, Massachusetts, a community partnership of citizens conducted surveys of schools, businesses, neighborhood groups, and various communities, including Hispanic neighborhoods. Learning that minors could easily get alcohol, they published the results of these surveys and received support for local prevention efforts. One effort was to recruit a core group of nondrinking students to act as peer mentors in the schools.

About the Author

NIH is the nation's medical research agency - making important medical discoveries that improve health and save lives. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.