NCJ Number
206620
Journal
Journal of Drug Education Volume: 33 Issue: 4 Dated: 2003 Pages: 399-413
Date Published
2003
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examined alcohol-related attitudes among adolescents and adults in a high consumption community.
Abstract
Despite widely held beliefs that adolescents hold disparate cultural attitudes, there is much evidence to suggest that adults and adolescents often share similar values, particularly regarding overarching issues such as education, occupational goals, parenting practices, and religious beliefs. The community of this study consisted of four cities sharing geographic boundaries. Two cities were located in different States separated by a river. The community’s alcohol climate is partly driven by the presence of three universities. The presence of over 20,000 college students in the community means there are numerous young adults who serve as drinking models for adolescents. The data for this study were gathered from adults in each of the communities via a random telephone survey of 487 households. A trained member of the staff of the North Dakota Data Center randomly dialed numbers, and the interview was conducted with whichever adult answered the phone first. The refusal rate for adults was roughly 30 percent. There were 179 males and 308 females. Students in grades 6-12 also completed a youth version of the survey in classrooms. Results indicated that becoming a parent was associated with more restrictive attitudes about adolescent alcohol use, regardless of the age of their children. Adolescents’ aged 14 to 17 had the least restrictive attitudes. Adults aged 18 to 24 who were not parents reported values similar to older adolescents. Younger adolescents, while similar to older adolescents in perception of community alcohol problems, were more like parents and older adults in attitudes about adolescent drinking. Both adolescents and adults greatly overestimated actual amounts of community adolescent binge drinking, and adolescents in particular overestimated fellow student drinking by 64 percent. The idea that the adolescents perceive that nearly all of their peers are binge drinking, may result in additional pressure to engage in this behavior. This study found that while there is still a high degree of alcohol consumption, the perceptions of it are still greatly exaggerated. 1 Table, references