Citation

Jones SC. Health Place 2014; 30C: 260-269.

Affiliation

Centre for Health and Social Research, Australian Catholic University Level 5, 215 Spring St, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: Sandra.Jones@acu.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.10.004

PMID

25460909

Abstract

Our children and adolescents are growing up in environments that support, and even, encourage (excessive) drinking. Thus, if we are to address the problem of underage drinking our focus needs to move beyond eliciting behavior change among children and adolescents to changing underlying community attitudes, social norms, and the environment itself. This review sought to examine the evidence base surrounding 'community-based' interventions designed to address underage drinking; to determine the extent to which 'community' interventions have thus far targeted the broader community and gone beyond behavior-focused strategies and endeavored to change social and physical environments. The review found surprisingly few interventions that sought to comprehensively address social norms at a community level. We need to move (research and interventions) beyond narrowly-focused efforts targeting teens and their parents; it is only when we address alcohol consumption at a population level that we will be able to provide an environment for children and adolescents which does not model (excessive) drinking as a normative social behavior.

Language: en