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Putting a Stop to Teen Binge Drinking
Reported September 08, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Rates of binge drinking among eighth-graders
dropped 37 percent in communities in seven states that used a prevention
system to reduce drug use and delinquent behavior, compared to teenagers
from similar communities that did not use the system.
The findings come from the ongoing Community Youth Development Study that
compares teenagers living in 12 pairs of small- to moderate-size towns in
Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Researchers
are tracking the behavior of more than 4,400 students for five years. The
study is the first trial of Communities That Care, a system developed by J.
David Hawkins and Richard Catalano of the University of Washington's Social
Development Research Group to lower delinquency rates and promote healthy
behaviors among teens.
"This study shows we can prevent adolescent risk behaviors community wide by
using this system," J. David Hawkins, lead author and founding director of
the research group, was quoted as saying. "The most dramatic finding
concerned binge drinking. We asked youngsters if they had consumed five or
more drinks of alcohol in one sitting in the past two weeks. We know kids
who drink that way are at risk for developing alcohol abuse and dependence
later. This binge drinking is occurring when children are 13 and 14 years of
age, so we are actually preventing the likelihood of later alcohol problems.
This is very important from a public health standpoint."
The study found that 5.7 percent of the eighth-grade students in the
intervention towns engaged in binge drinking, compared to 9 percent in the
communities not using the system.
The researchers also asked the participants about their use of seven types
of drugs -- cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, inhalants, marijuana, alcohol,
prescription drugs and other illicit drugs -- during the preceding month.
Teenagers in the intervention towns reported lower levels of use of all
seven substances. Notably, there was a 48 percent reduction in the use of
smokeless tobacco and a 23 percent reduction in the number of teens drinking
alcohol.
Teenagers from the intervention towns committed 31 percent fewer delinquent
acts, such as stealing something worth more than $5, purposely damaging or
destroying property that didn't belong to them or attacking someone with the
intent to cause harm.
The study found that young people in the communities using the Communities
That Care system were significantly less likely to begin smoking tobacco,
drinking alcohol or committing delinquent acts between the fifth and eighth
grades.
The 12 pairs of cities were matched by population, racial and ethnic
diversity, crime rates and other factors. One city in each pair was chosen
to test the Communities That Care system and received training during the
first year on how to implement the system and build a supportive community
coalition. The “pair” cities were given no assistance.
"What makes this system different from other prevention efforts is that it
provides community coalitions with scientifically based tools with which to
make decisions based on what is important to each town," said Hawkins. "The
key is empowering each community to make scientifically grounded decisions
about what program they need. That builds ownership."
SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, September 7, 2009
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