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A Component Evaluation of a Randomised Control Community Intervention to Reduce Adolescent Alcohol Use in Australia

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Abstract

Despite a decline in Australian adolescents reporting to have consumed alcohol, a high proportion of the adolescent population still consumes alcohol. Community-led prevention interventions that systematically and strategically implement evidence-based programs have been shown to be effective in producing population-behaviour change related to youth alcohol and drug use. This study evaluated the post-intervention effects of a multi-component community intervention in Australia. It comprised social marketing targeting adolescents and parents, and a community intervention to reduce underage alcohol sales. Structural equation modelling was used to examine direct and indirect effects of community intervention components on intention and consumption. Self-report surveys (N = 3377) and community sales data (27 communities) were analysed to evaluate the effect of the intervention components on intention and consumption before the age of 18. The intervention reduced alcohol sales to minors (OR = .82). Exposure to the social marketing was significantly associated with household no-alcohol rules (OR = 2.24) and parents not supplying alcohol (OR = .72). The intervention predicted intention not to consume alcohol before age 18; intention was associated with not consuming alcohol (OR = 5.70). Total indirect effects from the intervention through to intention were significant. However, parents setting a rule and not supplying alcohol were the only significant direct effects to intention. Parents setting a rule was directly associated with lower consumption. Overall, the intervention logic was supported by the data modelling. The study extends prior knowledge of community-based interventions to prevent adolescent alcohol use by identifying critical intervention components and effect mechanisms.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: ACTRN12612000384853.

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Funding

The following Australian National research bodies funded this study:

Australian Research Council; Award Number: LP100200755

National Health and Medical Research Council; Award Number: APP1087781

National Health and Medical Research Council; Award Number: 33430

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health School of Psychology, Centre for Social, Early and Emotional Development, Deakin University, Geelong Campus, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Bosco Charles Rowland & John W. Toumbourou

  2. School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences & Centre for Sport Research, Deakin University, VIC, Geelong Campus, Geelong, Australia

    Peter Kremer

  3. Faculty of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Geelong Campus, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Joanne Williams

  4. Centre for Adolescent Health,, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Victoria, Parkville, Australia

    Joanne Williams & George Patton

  5. School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, Australia

    Joanne Williams

  6. Faculty of Health, School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Adrian B Kelly

  7. Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia

    George Patton

Authors
  1. Bosco Charles Rowland
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  2. Peter Kremer
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  3. Joanne Williams
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  4. Adrian B Kelly
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  5. George Patton
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  6. John W. Toumbourou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bosco Charles Rowland.

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Ethics

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by The Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee (# 2011-102) and the relevant Education Departments within each state.

Informed Consent

Active parent consent and informed student assent were obtained from all individual study participants.

Conflict of Interest

The following authors served in the not-for-profit company Communities That Care Ltd that was evaluated in this paper: Rowland (current Chief Executive Officer, CEO); Toumbourou Patton (ex-CTC Director) (Director and ex-CEO). These roles are entirely honorary, and the authors do not receive any financial compensation connected with these roles.

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Rowland, B.C., Kremer, P., Williams, J. et al. A Component Evaluation of a Randomised Control Community Intervention to Reduce Adolescent Alcohol Use in Australia. Prev Sci 23, 36–47 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-021-01310-y

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