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Risk and Protective Factors
Focus For Youth Groups
Maine Youth Voices Groups are tasked with changing community standards and adult attitudes and behaviors regarding underage drinking. This is based on the considerable body of evidence that tells us that strategies aimed at individual youth that are educational, even when presented in a dramatic fashion such as mock crashes, testimonials, etc. are largely ineffective if the environment of the youth remains unchanged. Maine Youth Voices groups have the opportunity to increase protective factors and reduce risk factors in both the community and family domains.
Community Domain
Prevalence of use goes down when:
Youth think they are more likely to get caught by the police if they drink alcohol.
Youth feel that adults in their community think it is wrong for them to drink.
Youth perceive that alcohol is hard to get.
There is less marketing of alcohol to youth. This includes more than advertising. It includes other forms of marketing such as sponsorship of community events, merchandising, and public consumption of alcohol by adults as part of public events.
Family Domain
Prevalence of use goes down when:
Youth think that it is likely that their parents will catch them if they drink. This goes to family management and supervision.
Youth believe that their parents feel it is wrong for them to drink.
Each group decides what it is that they want to change that meets one of the protective factors listed above. They then design activites to help their community achieve these changes.
Outcomes
There will be some demonstratable change in behavior or policy as a result of the short-term activities. This could include, among many other things, activities to limit marketing or access to youth measured by specific actions taken by merchants or law enforcement. School policy may be changed to discourage use, parent groups that speak out against underage drinking, or reducing the visibility of alcohol at community events are other examples.
Short-term Activities
Each group will plan and complete activites designed to increase knowledge and awareness opf underage drinking issues relavant to the preventive factors they have selected. This may include sponsoring meetings, focus groups, media events, or other activities that engage adults and policy makers in understanding the issue. These activities are designed specifically to achieve the selected outcome.
This web site is maintained
by:
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New
England Institute of Addiction Studies and
AdCare Educational Institute of Maine
75 Stone Street,
Augusta, ME 04330
207-621-2549 (Phone)
207-623-0830 (TTY)
207-621-2550 (Fax)
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AdCare
Educational Institute of Massachusetts
5 Northampton Street, Worcester, MA 01605
508-752-7313 (Phone)
508-752-8111 (Fax)
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Youth Empowerment and Policy Project
