RAND Study Finds Multiple Types of Alcohol Advertising May Influence Adolescent Drinking

A review of the available empirical material bearing upon the question of alcohol advertising having ‘effects’ on the general level of consumption suggests that this question is insufficiently precise as a basis for research. Studies suggesting some relationship between advertising for particular brands or products and shifts in brand or product use are potentially more interesting, if considered from a point of view that recognises that such shifts may involve shifts in milieux, comparisons, styles and meanings associated with consumption. Future research should be attentive to such qualitative changes in drinking practices attendant upon advertising or preventive campaigns (as well as to quantitative changes). The authors suggest that such quantitative and qualitative changes in drinking practices of individuals and social groups need to be considered within the context of more general, ideological and economic, consequences of alcohol advertising. These consequences-including reinforcement of images about ‘social drinking,’ and shifting of consumers onto more profitable products-consolidate the profitability of the alcohol industry (a consideration more important to the industry than levels of consumption per se). A framework broader than that of ‘effects’ on individuals' levels of consumption is required if health educators are to learn anything from advertising.

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A community intervention to reduce alcohol consumption and drunkenness among adolescents in Sweden: a quasi-experiment

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-021-10755-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Robert Svensson ◽

Björn Johnson ◽

Karl Kronkvist

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Consumption ◽

Community Intervention ◽

Parental Attitudes ◽

Compulsory Education ◽

Self Report ◽

Probability Models ◽

Drinking Habits ◽

Adolescent Drinking ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Linear Probability

Abstract Background Several studies have examined the effect of community interventions on youth alcohol consumption, and the results have often been mixed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a community intervention known as the Öckerö Method on adolescent alcohol consumption and perceived parental attitudes towards adolescent drinking. Method The study is based on a quasi-experimental design, using matched controls. Self-report studies were conducted among adolescents in grades 7–9 of compulsory education in four control and four intervention communities in the south of Sweden in 2016–2018. Baseline measures were collected in autumn 2016 before the intervention was implemented in the intervention communities. Outcomes were the adolescents’ alcohol consumption, past-year drunkenness, past-month drunkenness and perceived parental attitudes towards alcohol. Results Estimating Difference-in-Difference models using Linear Probability Models, we found no empirical evidence that the intervention has any effect on adolescents’ drinking habits, or on their perceptions of their parents’ attitudes towards adolescent drinking. Conclusion This is the first evaluation of this method, and we found no evidence that the intervention had any effect on the level of either young people’s alcohol consumption or their past-year or past-month drunkenness, nor on their parents’ perceived attitudes toward adolescent drinking. A further improvement would be to employ a follow-up period that is longer than the three-year period employed in this study. Trial registration ISRCTN registry: Study ID: 51635778, 31th March 2021 (Retrospectively registered).

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