Posted on July 16, 2009

In the so-called “War on Drugs” the government, educators and policymakers have been pouring time and energy into the development of prevention messages aimed at adolescents. To measure the effectiveness of these messages, a recent NSDUH report, Exposure to Substance Use Prevention Messages and Substance Use among Adolescents: 2002 to 2007, provided data on the correlation between exposure to these messages and conversations between parents and children.

In this study, researchers found that between 2002 and 2007, there were decreases in the percentages of adolescents aged 12 to 17 that reported exposure to drug or alcohol use prevention messages. These decreases were found in media sources from 83.2 percent to 77.9 percent; and prevention programs outside of school from 12.7 percent to 11.3 percent.

One area that showed an increase for this same demographic during the past year was the percentage of adolescents who had talked with their parents about the dangers of alcohol, drug or tobacco use. This group of individuals increased from 58.1 percent to 59.6 percent.

When examining combined data from 2002 to 2007, researchers indicate that talking with a parent about the dangers of substance use decreased with age. For example, 61.6 percent of those aged 12 or 13, 59.5 percent of those aged 14 or 15, and 57.1 percent of those aged 16 or 17. Surprisingly, the percentage of those receiving prevention messages through media sources increased with age, at 77.0, 82.7 and 84.2 percent respectively.

Overall, those adolescents who reported having experienced exposure to substance use prevention messages in the past year were less likely to have used tobacco, alcohol or illicit drugs in the past month compared to those adolescents who were not exposed. As this group of individuals is at a greater risk for substance abuse, exposing them to effective prevention is critical.

The gender of the adolescent appeared to play a role in whether or not the individual was likely to have talked with a parent. The combined data from 2002 to 2007 revealed that females were more likely than males to have talked with a parent about the dangers of drug use, to have received prevention messages through media channels and to have received prevention messages from school sources. At the same time, males and females were equally as likely to have participated in a substance use prevention program outside of school.

While it has been found that the majority of adolescents received substance use prevention messages through the media school and parents, it is still important to note that 30 percent of adolescents did not receive messages through school sources and 40 percent did not talk with a parent.

There is still more work to be done and this study reinforces the important role that school, the media and parents play in the education and prevention of drug and alcohol use among today’s adolescents.