Reduction of Youth Monthly Alcohol Use Using the Positive Community Norms Approach

Abstract

This research evaluated the impact of the Positive Community Norms (PCN) approach on (a) correcting misperceptions of norms of peer alcohol use and (b) reducing prevalence of monthly alcohol use among a sample of high-school students. A 5-year intervention (consisting of a mix of strategies centered around promoting actual norms related to alcohol use) was implemented by community coalitions in 11 school districts selected by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Yearly assessments of teen substance abuse norms were conducted in each community, as well as surveys of parents and adults in the community. In the absence of control communities, national data from Monitoring the Future (MTF) (Miech et al. in Monitoring the future national survey results on drug use, 1975–2017: secondary school students, vol I [Monograph]. Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2018) were utilized as a comparison condition. At the end of the 5 years, 8th- and 10th-grade students in the PCN intervention communities were more likely to report never using alcohol than students in the MTF Survey comparison group. This finding was also true for 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students combined. This research provides evidence for utilizing the PCN approach to effectively correct misperceptions of norms and integrate strategies to reduce and prevent teen alcohol use at community population levels.