An Intervention for Reducing Alcohol Use among Teens at Prom

ALCOHOL USE AMONG TEENS AT PROM

Alcohol Use among Teens at Prom

In September 2015, Austin Hall Donovan, then eighteen, was sentenced to an 18-month jail term by a Maryland court after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter that led to the death of his high school colleagues on prom night (George, 2015). The prosecutor’s report indicated that Donovan was highly intoxicated at the time of the accident, reporting a blood-alcohol level of 0.11, which is even higher than the 0.08 adult limit when he was tested close to three hours after the incident (George, 2015). Donovan, then 17, was reportedly driving at 119mph in a residential area with a 35mph speed limit when he lost control of his convertible and hit a light pole and a tree, killing his friend Shawn Gangloff (aged 15) and severely injuring 17-year-old Max Dechter (George, 2015). The case brought to light the worries of parents with teenagers during prom.

According to Law for Kids (2016), prom is one of the most interesting seasons in the life of most teenagers, but one that a good number of parents dread. Available data indicates that on average, 2000 teens die from motor vehicle accidents every year, with prom season (April, may, June) accounting for 30 percent of these (Law for Kids, 2016). Every year, over 300 teens die in car accidents during prom weekends (Wilson, 2018). In 2013, the prom season accounted for 27 percent of teen motor vehicle accidents and translated to 676 deaths (Law for Kids, 2016). This assignment applies the constructs of the social-ecological model in developing an intervention geared at reducing alcohol use among teens during prom.

Social-Ecological Model and why it was Selected

The social-ecological model explains the occurrence of public health issues from a multidimensional approach that considers the physical and social context of an individual or community (CDC, 2015). The model looks at the occurrence of public health issues based on individual, relationship, community, and societal factors, and helps in developing effective interventions (CDC, 2015). It recognizes that an individual or community’s health is a function of interactions in their individual, community, social, political, and physical environments that shape their social, mental, and physical well-being (CDC, 2015).

Teenage alcoholism is a complex subject. People engage in alcoholism for different reasons that are result of many different influences in their lives. Varied factors drive teenagers to engage in alcoholism – from parental influence to stress, peer pressure, and lack of knowledge on the costs of alcoholism. Very many factors determine whether or not a teenager is at risk of alcoholism. The social-ecological model is the most appropriate platform for studying teenage alcoholism as it considers the effect of different individual, relationship, community, and societal factors, thus allowing one to develop an intervention that addresses multiple levels. Studies have found multicomponent interventions to be the most effective in addressing college students’ drinking behaviour (Thadani et al., 2009).

Levels/Constructs of the Social Ecological Model

Individual Level

The individual level identifies the personal and biological factors that increase one’s risk of alcoholism during prom (CDC, 2015). One of the fundamental individual factors would be past history of alcohol use (CDC, 2015). Studies have shown that college students who have previously taken alcohol are more likely to re-indulge if they get an opportunity during prom, graduation, and other functions that make it easy to acquire alcohol (Thadanu et al., 2009). Other individual-level factors that would drive the decision to engage in alcoholism during prom would include beliefs and attitudes that promote alcohol consumption, such as the belief that alcohol reduces problems; antisocial and impulsive behaviour; drug and substance abuse; and lack of knowledge on the costs of alcoholism. Interventions at this stage would include life skills training and education.

The life skills training would be offered at the school level and focus on helping students develop personal, social and self-management skills, teaching them how to resist negative social pressures, and influencing their attitudes and knowledge about alcohol use (Botvin & Kantor, 2000). In this case, the organizers would partner with school heads and parents to organize a one-week training program for the students in their school before prom. The topics to be covered in the life skills education program would be as follows:

Information and Skills Related to Alcohol Use: under this area, students would be trained on the consequences (bot short and long term) of using alcohol, the declining acceptability of alcohol use and other drugs, and statistics on alcohol consumption patterns to correct negative attitudes and normative expectations surrounding alcohol use (Botvin & Kantor, 2000). Further, the organisers will organize class demonstrations, role playing, and simulation exercises to demonstrate the effects of alcohol use and teach skills for resisting peer pressure and alcohol advertising when opportunities for using the same present themselves as during prom (Botvin & Kantor, 2000). For instance, schools could organize simulation exercises showing car wrecks that occur as a result of drunk driving following prom to sensitize teens on the likely negative effects of indulging in alcohol use.

Personal Self-Management: under this area, the trainings could sensitize teens on effective problem-solving and decision-making, how to differentiate between negative and positive media influences, how to resist negative media influences, and how to deal with frustration, anger, and anxiety using positive strategies (Bovin & Kantor, 2000). Further, the students could be equipped with basic self-improvement and behaviour change principles, including goal-setting, self-reinforcement, and self-monitoring (Bovin & Kantor, 2000).

Social Skills: under this area, students would be educated on ways of building their social competence, such as how to say ‘no’ to negative peer pressure without endangering one’s friendships, fostering positive male-female relationships, and effective communication (Bovin & Kantor, 2000).

To ensure maximum efficacy, Bovin and Kantor (2000) advise that such education sessions are conducted as a continuing effort rather than as one-time events just before prom. In this case, school heads could work together with teachers to integrate these lessons into the curriculum in students’ final year as a way of reinforcing the lessons acquired.

Relationship Level

This level includes the close relationships that increase teens’ risk of engaging in alcoholism during prom (CDC, 2015). It covers influences from an individual’s family members, partners, and close friends. One of the primary relationship-level factors would be familial influence, such as having parents and sexual partners who take alcohol. Teens whose parents take alcohol are more likely to engage in alcoholism during prom as they are more likely to hold attitudes and beliefs that promote alcoholism (Thadani et al., 2009). Further, one is more likely to take alcohol during prom if they lack effective role models among those in their social circles. For instance, male children from female-led single-parent families may take alcohol for lack of father figures in their lives, with whom they can talk about teenage issues (Thadani et al., 2009).

The intervention at this level would focus on fostering positive social relationships through peer programs and mentorship. Studies have particularly shown that parents are crucial determinants of whether or not teens engage in alcohol use (Patterson et al., 2011). For instance, teens are less likely to take alcohol if their parents exhibit certain features such as high quality communication, restrictive attitudes towards alcohol use, and proper monitoring of their children’s activities (Patterson et al., 2011). Thus, the intervention at this stage would target parents and focus on educating them on various topics related to underage drinking. More specifically, the program would train parents on ways of fostering restrictive attitudes towards alcohol use, building effective parent-child communication on the dangers of alcohol use, effective rule-setting around alcohol use, and effective parental monitoring (Patterson et al., 2011). Studies have shown such parental programs to be effective in changing parental behaviour, changing teens’ attitudes towards alcoholism, and reducing the rate of underage drinking (Patterson et al., 2011). In the proposed intervention, parents will be trained through physical training sessions as well as booklets teaching them how to foster effective communication with their teenage children and strategies for effective parental monitoring.

In addition to the parental training programs, the intervention will organize sessions involving both parents and teenage children, where they will be taught how to converse effectively at home and the purpose of engaging in activities that build togetherness such as bowling and eating together (Patterson et al., 2011).

Community Level

This level includes settings in which an individual’s social relationships exist, such as neighbourhoods, workplaces, and schools (CDC, 2015). Community-level factors cover the characteristics of these settings that predispose a teenager to either take alcohol or influence their peers to take alcohol during prom. Community-level factors would include high incidence of drug and substance abuse in schools, punitive systems that may drive students to be rebellious, living in neighbourhoods with high alcohol usage rates, and inadequate social control structures. Teens are more likely to engage in alcohol use if they live in neighbourhoods with weak religious institutions, poor community policing systems, and a high number of single parent families, among other things (Thadani et al., 2009). The intervention at this level will seek to impact the policies and processes in the system, the school in this case, and to foster climates in the community that aid healthy relationships and positive deviant behaviour.

Since the target group is high school seniors taking alcohol during prom, the intervention at the community level will focus on influencing schools to develop strict policies around what is acceptable and what is not acceptable during prom. One way is for schools to clearly set out rules governing students’ conduct during prom and have the students and parents sign the same before the event. The rules need to clearly set out the punishment to which one who acts contrary will face, up to and including expulsion from school. Further, schools could use prom to introduce more beneficial activities such as talent shows, where students would be allowed to showcase their talents in fashion and design, modelling, dance, and baking, among others, under the full guidance of teachers and parents. Additionally, schools could be encouraged to train school anti-drinking champions among their students, whom they could use to sensitize the rest against underage drinking and particularly, drinking during prom (Stigler et al., 2011).

Societal Level

This level includes the greater societal factors that establish a climate that fosters or encourages alcoholism (CDC, 2015). These include the cultural and social norms, as well as government, educational, economic, and health policies that foster social or economic inequalities between societal groups. Interventions at this level would focus on advocating policies that foster healthy families and nurture stable neighbourhoods. The proposed intervention at this level would focus on strengthening social institutions at the societal level such as religious institutions. The intervention will call for partnerships with religious institutions to foster religiosity among teenagers as a way of fostering positive behaviour. Through the partnership, students would, during school holidays, receive training on what religion says about alcoholism, how to foster male-female interactions guided by religion, ways of effectively using leisure time, among other topics.

Further, through religious institutions, the intervention will organize community sensitization campaigns where teens are sensitized about the dangers of alcohol use and accorded opportunities to use their energy to engage in constrictive activities such as sporting events and tree-planting exercises. Additionally, the intervention will organize sessions to train teenagers in the community on the dangers of alcoholism. This will involve partnering with local celebrities popular among the youth to come up with awareness-raising songs and mantra, from which posters will be produced and placed in strategic locations in schools, religious institutions, and in common areas popular among teens.