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6. National Media Campaign
Pages 108-124

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From page 108...
... This logical argument is also strongly bolstered by the evidence of effectiveness of media campaigns in related public health areas. In the committee's judgment, this body of evidence provides reason for optimism regarding the potential effectiveness of an adult-oriented campaign on underage drinking and is sufficient to support a presumptive commitment to launch such a campaign after a carefully designed developmental phase.
From page 109...
... For example 84 percent of respondents to the 2001 survey undertaken by CASA said that underage drinking was either "a big problem" or "somewhat of a problem" in their community, and 92 percent said they were personally "somewhat" or "very much concerned" with underage alcohol use. That survey also shows widespread support for many public policy actions, with 83 percent favoring regulation of location of alcohol outlets near school, and 78 percent, 71 percent, and 69 percent supporting undercover compliance checks, "cops in shops" checks, and "shoulder tap" checks, respectively, to reduce alcohol outlet sales to underage youth.
From page 110...
... The parenting literature argues that effective parenting includes monitoring and supervising youth behavior. For younger adolescents, this parenting includes such things as: knowing who a child's friends are, making sure that children are always supervised by adults, knowing what a child's plans are for the coming day, knowing what children are doing TABLE 6-1 Adults' Reports of Barriers to Reducing Underage Drinking (in percent)
From page 111...
... were 1Based on analysis by Robert Hornik of unpublished data collected by Westat for the National Institute on Drug Abuse for the evaluation of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's national youth antidrug media campaign.
From page 112...
... Additional evidence that parents are not aware of teenage drinking comes from two surveys conducted by the state of Maine: one of parents of teenagers and the other of teenagers.3 Although more than half of the parents surveyed (55.6 percent) reported that they are more concerned about teenage use of alcohol than tobacco, marijuana, other illegal drugs, or prescription drugs, these parents greatly underestimate the extent to which eighth to twelfth graders drink alcohol (Strategic Marketing Services, 2002)
From page 113...
... However, even if the parents know their children are drinking, there is a question of whether they see underage alcohol consumption as risky. The evidence concerning whether or not parents perceive risks in underage drinking comes from the study by CASA (2002)
From page 114...
... The campaign would argue that by taking specific personal actions to prevent underage alcohol use, by increasing recommended parenting behaviors, and by support of community-level policies, parents and other adults can affect underage drinking and reduce its bad consequences. The campaign rests on five assumptions: · Many parents do not recognize either the prevalence of or the many risks associated with underage drinking for their own children.
From page 115...
... In contrast, an adult-oriented campaign would present new messages. It would target parents and other adults, who are now facilitating youth alcohol use because they are not sufficiently aware of the problem for their children; not aware of the many harmful consequences of youth alcohol use; not aware that actions they take can affect the risks; and not aware that buying alcohol for underage persons or giving it to them, is socially irresponsible and usually illegal.
From page 116...
... The more difficult claim to support is not whether a mass media campaign can diffuse facts but whether it can effectively teach and, most important, influence specific new behaviors by adults. We do not know of any studies of a specific intervention of this sort relating to alcohol.
From page 117...
... and about single campaigns in other places. However the evaluations of those campaigns are weaker than those addressing drunk driving, and they often do not measure behavior or have credible comparison groups.5 In any case, these results, even the favorable ones about drunk driving, are not the same as evidence that parenting behaviors concerning their children's alcohol use can be affected.
From page 118...
... . Indeed one metaanalysis of the literature concludes that the largest effects evident in the mass media campaign literature come from campaigns which link media publicity with enforcement (Snyder and Hamilton, 2002)
From page 119...
... THE EVIDENCE FOR ACTION In sum, there are several arguments in favor of a campaign aimed at parents and other adults: they often do not know about their children's drinking behavior; they probably do not have a well-developed understanding of the specific risks of drinking; communication campaigns are often quite good at diffusing new knowledge; such campaigns have been successful in promoting specific protective behaviors by parents and in changing attitudes and behaviors relating to drunk driving; and parental monitoring of their children is prospectively related to their likelihood of using alcohol. At the same time, the evidence is not clear as to whether such knowledge about their children's risk of alcohol use and abuse, and of the negative consequences of such use, affects parents' behavior with regard to alcohol.
From page 120...
... The earliest phase of the campaign might work on these perceptions, readying parents and other adults for the need to change their own behavior insofar as it facilitates or condones underage alcohol use. If the legal messages are determined in the developmental phase to be significant with the target audience, this phase might also include information about the law governing underage drinking and the legal duties of parents and other adults.
From page 121...
... Possible Models One model for this approach can be found in one of the first and most successful national campaigns, the National High Blood Pressure Education Campaign. Although this campaign did some advertising of its messages, it relied heavily on actions by other institutions: campaign planners worked with physicians' organizations to encourage physicians to provide advice about high blood pressure consistent with national guidelines; they proposed stories to newspapers and television and radio that conveyed their priority messages; and they developed affiliations with, and provided materials to, grassroots organizations interested in hypertension (Roccella, 2002)
From page 122...
... Thus, while we do not favor a small-scale pilot test of the campaign as a whole, we do recommend pilot testing of specific features of the campaign during the developmental period, as discussed below. The Challenge The history of campaigns aimed at tobacco use and drunk driving are instructive in indicating why we think that the presumptive commitment is warranted.
From page 123...
... Such efforts are not to be evaluated by their short-term effects on youth drinking, but by their effects on broad social norms about that drinking, by the willingness of adults to take actions to reduce it, and by changes in public policies known to affect underage drinking rates. An adult-focused mass communication campaign is also meant to support local efforts to reduce drinking.
From page 124...
... A central issue would be how best to link the campaign with local, state, and national policy changes about youth alcohol use, if they are adopted. During the first phase, we suggest funding the basic formative work for the campaign, including intensive and multifaceted developmental research.


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