AN ALCOHOL PRIMARY PREVENTION PROGRAM FOR PARENTS OF 7TH GRADERS - THE AMAZING ALTERNATIVES - HOME PROGRAM

Parents have both direct and indirect influences on many adolescent pr oblem behaviors including underage drinking. To reach a large number o f parents, and to encourage parents to adopt behaviors associated with fewer adolescent problems, parent education programs need to be devel oped and evaluated. The Amazing Alternatives! Home Program, a componen t of a community-wide intervention called Project Northland, attempted to reach and affect parents of seventh graders through booklets sent via direct mail. The booklets had two parts: the first contained infor mation to be read by parents, and the second was a discussion activity to be completed by parents and their seventh graders. The main goals of the Amazing Alternatives! Home Program were to increase communicati on between parents and seventh graders concerning alcohol-related issu es, to improve parenting skills like monitoring and supervision, and, ultimately, to reduce underage drinking. At least 33% of the 1,028 eli gible families chose to participate in the program. Participation in t he Amazing Alternatives! Home Program was associated with increased co mmunication between seventh graders and their parents concerning alcoh ol-related topics. Changes in other parenting behaviors and student se lf-reported alcohol use were not observed following program participat ion. Parent programs such as the Amazing Alternatives! Home Program ma y be a necessary, but not sufficient, intervention to achieve reductio ns in underage drinking.