NCJ Number
189346
Date Published
March 2001
Length
51 pages
Annotation
Written primarily for traffic safety specialists and for community groups that are launching or expanding underage drinking prevention programs, this guide discusses the importance of preventing underage drinking and provides an overview of recent advances in prevention planning.
Abstract
Although the guide provides an overview of recent advances in prevention planning, it does not attempt to provide detailed information on all of the programs that have demonstrated effectiveness, nor does it contain extensive citations from research reports. For the purposes of this booklet, prevention is defined as "programs, policies, or activities that are designed to keep youth from using alcohol before they attain the minimum legal drinking age." Recent research into alcohol abuse, underage drinking, and addiction has expanded links between underage drinking, adult alcoholism, and problem drinking. Preventing youth from drinking may not only save them from harm in their youth, but may prevent them from embarking on a lifetime of alcohol-and-drug related problems. The expanded understanding of the origins and impact of underage drinking has changed the emphasis for many underage drinking prevention programs from short-term safety programs to programs that not only emphasize safety, but recognize the proven links between illegal underage drinking and other problems, including adult alcoholism, crime, and health problems. This change in emphasis has created a bridge between the traffic safety and prevention programs and given them a shared goal, i.e., working with communities to develop and implement effective programs to prevent underage drinking. This guide includes some of the research and experience of strategies that have proven effective in curbing underage drinking as well as other promising strategies that have not yet been evaluated but appear to be effective. Universal, selective, and indicated prevention strategies are discussed within the framework of risk and protective factors, so as to assist communities in developing successful programs. Appendixes contain a prevention program classification checklist, tips on establishing diversion and Court Watch programs, characteristics of effective after-school programs, alcohol and other drug policy checklist, recommendations for working with parents, prevention program matrix, prevention principles checklist, and descriptions for pilot projects. 58-item annotated resource list