AN initiative which sought to change attitudes towards underage drinking in Kiama has concluded, with organisers believing it has made some fundamentally positive differences.
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The Kiama Stop Underage Drinking Project campaign was launched in 2013.
From October 2013 to September last year, the community campaign included strategies such as website and social media; alcohol and social norms curricula taught at Kiama High; parent workshops; health promotion activities at community events; and media advertisements, posters and banners.
The Australian Research Council funded the initiative.
It aimed to alter the perceived cultural acceptance of underage drinking by supporting community standards.
“Typically, our community over-estimates the proportion of teens that drink alcohol,” project manager Kelly Andrews said.
“In particular, teens believe that their peers drink alcohol at an earlier age, drink it more often, and drink more of it than they actually do.
“An adolescent’s perception of what is ‘normal’ – what they think others do and what they think others expect of them - has an even stronger influence on their behaviour than peer pressure. There is evidence that if we can correct these misconceptions, we can reduce the pressure teens feel to drink, they will start drinking later, drink less often and drink smaller amounts.
“There is also strong evidence that many parents perceive that ‘other parents’ approve of teen drinking, and that this perception influences their behaviour.
“Parents feel peer pressure to provide alcohol to their teens because they believe this is accepted by other parents.”
IRIS Research conducted telephone interviews of a random sample of Kiama residents on behalf of the researchers.
“In 2013, on average, people (in Kiama) thought that 53 per cent of 16-year-olds drank alcohol,” Ms Andrews said. “In 2015, this had dropped to 44 per cent, much closer to the reality of 29 per cent of 16-year-olds who actually drink.”
Ms Andrews said they were still analysing online survey results, including feedback from adolescents, but said preliminary analysis was encouraging.
“The main message seems to be that eventually, over time and constant saturation of the mass messages, people started to believe them,” she said. “So it illustrates that these attitude changes do take time. We definitely made some inroads.
“I’m also encouraged by that there just seems to be, that self-efficacy and just that feeling of being supported by community standards has risen. I think that’s really fundamental to the sustainability of those things.”