Citation

Evans-Whipp TJ, Plenty SM, Catalano RF, Herrenkohl TI, Toumbourou JW. Health Educ. Res. 2013; 28(4): 651-662.

Affiliation

Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children's Hospital and Adolescent Health Research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia, University of Washington, School of Social Work, Social Development Research Group, 9725 Third Avenue NW, Suite #401, Seattle, WA 98115, USA and Prevention Sciences, School of Psychology and Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing Research, Deakin University, Waterfront Campus, Geelong Victoria 3217, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/her/cyt068

PMID

23766454

Abstract

Although it is common for secondary schools to implement alcohol policies to reduce alcohol misuse, there has been little evaluation of the efficacy of these policies. The purpose of this study was to test the impact of the degree and type of alcohol policy enforcement in state representative samples of secondary students in Washington State, USA, and Victoria, Australia (n = 1848). Multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine the prospective association between student reports of school alcohol policy in Grade 8 and self-reported alcohol use in Grade 9, controlling for age, gender, state, family socio-economic status and Grade 8 alcohol use. The likelihood of students drinking on school grounds was increased when students perceived lax policy enforcement. Student perceptions of harm minimization alcohol messages, abstinence alcohol messages and counselling for alcohol policy violators predicted reduced likelihood of binge drinking. Students perceiving harm minimization messages and counselling for alcohol policy violators had a reduced likelihood of experiencing alcohol-related harms. Perceptions of harsh penalties were unrelated to drinking behaviour. These results suggest that perceived policy enforcement may lessen drinking at school 1 year later and that harm minimization messages and counselling approaches may also lessen harmful drinking behaviours as harm minimization advocates suggest.

Language: en