NCJ Number
187376
Date Published
1999
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This document describes strategies that are used to create healthier college campus environments in which alcohol is less available, more responsibly promoted and served, and poses less of a threat to the health, safety, and well-being of all students.
Abstract
The strategies described accomplish these objectives by changing conditions on campuses directly as well as by coordinating and supporting efforts in communities surrounding campuses and fostering better legislative and policy structures in States to support campus efforts. The strategies described are based in the belief that people's behavior, including their use of substances, is powerfully shaped by their environment. Effective prevention requires making appropriate modifications to the physical, legal, economic, and sociocultural processes of the community at large that contribute to substance abuse and related problems. Prevention directed at the environment generally relies on public policies (e.g., laws, rules, regulations) and other community-level interventions both to limit access to substances and to alter the culture and contexts within which decisions about substance use are made. Some of the strategies described in this guide are: increasing the minimum purchase age to 21; enforcing minimum purchase age laws; increasing the price of alcohol; combining the training of managers and alcohol servers; and using legal deterrence measures designed to prevent impaired driving. The strategies described in this guide are distinguished by the spheres of influence they target: the campus itself, the relationship between the campus and the community, and the State-level context. Where available, brief case-study examples are provided, and research findings are discussed. Tables describe various strategies and their proven effects. 45 references and 9 annotated resources