NCJ Number
191209
Editor(s)
Barbara Brickman
Date Published
October 2001
Length
514 pages
Annotation
This report evaluates the third phase of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign launched by the Office of National Drug Control Policy under a Federal law enacted in 1998.
Abstract
The national media campaign aimed to reduce and prevent juvenile drug use. The third phase began in September 1999 and is planned to continue until at least spring 2002. Evaluation data came from three waves of an in-home survey covering youth aged 9 to 18 years and their parents. Wave 1 took place between November 1999 and May 2000 and included 3,312 youth and 2,293 of their parents. Wave 2 took place between July and December 2000 and included 2,362 youth and 1,632 of their parents. Wave 3 took place between January and June 2001 and included 2,459 youth and 1,681 of their parents. These participants represented the approximately 40 million youth and 43 million of their parents who were the media campaign’s target audience. Results revealed substantial levels of recalled exposure to the campaign’s anti-drug messages among parents and youth. Results also indicated positive changes in four of five outcomes among parents, including talking about drugs with children and monitoring children. In contrast, findings produced little evidence of direct campaign effects on youth. The analysis also noted that subsequent semiannual reports may reveal different effects on parents and youth as the campaign has more time to realize its plans fully and more time to affect the audience and as new data come from follow-up interviews of parents and youth. The analysis concluded that the findings for parents provided a reasonably optimistic picture of campaign effects on parents at this early stage and that thus far relatively little evidence existed for direct effects on youth. Tables, figures, footnotes, chapter reference lists, and appended methodological information