NOT FOR KIDS ONLY

Abstract

Project Northland, an innovative program designed to combat adolescent alcohol use, brought together children and adults in more than 20 communities in Minnesota. In the first phase, 2,400 students in sixth to eighth grade took part in classroom education, parental involvement, peer leadership programs, and community task-force activities. Researchers placed half of the students into an intervention group, which received more intense education on alcohol prevention. The other half were part of the control group. By the end of eighth grade, students in the intervention group drank significantly less than students in the control group. As the childrten moved into high school, Project Northland continued its push to reduce alcohol use and began to focus on educating participants about the dangers of drinking and driving. Students studied real-life cases of adolescents who were involved in drunk-driving crashes and heard taped interviews of anguished parents who lost their children to drunk driving. In an eleventh grade mock trial, students acted as prosecutors and jury members against a University of Minnesota law student defending a drunk driver. The positive results of Project Northland included an increased student, parental, and community awareness that the number-one killer of teens is alcohol-related car crashes. Communication between parents and children about the consequences of drinking increased. Peer pressure to drink decreased, and students perceived a greater likelihood of disciplinary action after drinking and driving.