[Perceived access to alcohol among lower secondary school students. A longitudinal study]. / Opplevd tilgang på alkohol blant ungdomsskoleelever.

In Norway the law forbids drinking of alcohol before the age of 18 years. In spite of this, a large portion of Norwegian under-aged adolescents report drinking alcohol. A two-year prospective cohort study was conducted to investigate perceived access to alcohol in a representative sample of 7th grade students (13 years old) in the county of Hordaland, Norway (N = 861). "Getting older friends to buy alcohol", "given alcohol by friends", and "taking at home without permission" were the most frequently mentioned sources of alcohol both at baseline and at follow-up among both drinking and non-drinking students. Among 15 year old boys who reported drinking alcohol, 21% said that they would buy the alcohol themselves. Perceived access to alcohol significantly predicted the reported frequency of alcohol use two years later, even when controlled for baseline alcohol consumption and perceived social norms among parents and students of the same age. It is recommended that parents be advised to reduce their children's access to alcohol at home, and that alcohol prevention efforts targeting older adolescents should include information on the negative consequences of providing alcohol to minors. Furthermore, the current sales laws should be more stringently enforced.

[Alcohol education among junior high school students. Results from a WHO educational program]. / Alkoholundervisning blant ungdomsskoleelever. Resultat fra et undervisningsopplegg i regi av Verdens helseorganisasjon.

A school-based social influences approach to alcohol education was tested among Norwegian 8th grade lower secondary school students. The goal of the programme was to delay onset and minimize involvement in use of alcohol among the participants. 15 schools were randomly assigned to peer-led education, teacher-led education or a control condition. The programme focused on the social and environmental influences to drink alcohol, and skills to resist those influences. It consisted of five lessons over two months. Baseline and post-test data measured alcohol-use, knowledge, attitudes, skills, friends' drinking, and intentions to drink alcohol in the future. Data were collected immediately prior to and following the educational programme. The data indicate that peer-led education appears to be efficacious in reducing alcohol use and intention to use alcohol. There was no intervention effect of the peer-led programme for knowledge, attitudes or skills. There was no intervention effect for the teacher-led education.

WHO Collaborative Study on Alcohol Education and Young People: outcomes of a four-country pilot study.

In 1985 the Division of Mental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, convened a group of investigators from centers in four countries--Australia, Chile, Norway, Swaziland--to participate in a pilot study on the efficacy of school-based alcohol education. The goal of the educational program was to delay onset and minimize involvement of alcohol use among 13- to 14-year-old adolescents. Twenty-five schools in the four countries, representing middle- and lower-class populations, were randomly assigned to peer-led education, teacher-led education, or a control condition. The educational program was derived from social-psychological theory and etiological research on adolescent alcohol use. The program focused on the social and environmental influences to drink alcohol and skills to resist those influences. It consisted of five lessons over 2 months. Baseline and posttest data measured alcohol use knowledge, attitudes, skills, and friends' drinking patterns. Data were collected immediately prior to and 2 months following the educational program. The data converge on the finding that peer-led education appears to be efficacious in reducing alcohol use across a variety of settings and cultures.