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Study Faults Plan to Curb Campus Drinking Kimberly Palmer and Christopher Lawton. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition).New York, N.Y.: Jul 24, 2003. pg. B1

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Subjects: Social conditions & trends, Alcohol use, College students Classification 8610 Food processing industry, 1220 Social trends & culture Codes Author(s): Kimberly Palmer and Christopher Lawton Article types: News Publication Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Jul 24, 2003. pg. B1 title: Source Type: Newspaper ISSN/ISBN: 00999660 ProQuest 374463351 document ID: Text Word 709 Count Article URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88- 2003&res_id=xri:pqd&rft_val_fmt=ori:fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article&rft_id=xri:pqd:did=000000374 463351&svc_dat=xri:pqil:fmt=text&req_dat=xri:pqil:pq_clntid=15094 More Like This »Show Options for finding similar articles Abstract (Article Summary) Some college students said they weren't surprised by the Harvard findings. Christopher Rusca, a 19-year-old junior at Fresno State in California, said that social-norms posters may actually goad students into drinking more. "If you want to rebel, it gives you a reason to drink," Mr. Rusca said. Added Aaron Flint, 23, the student body president at the University of Montana: "It's another one of those politically correct campaigns that gives us something to laugh at."

"If you give kids information that says [other kids] are drinking less than they perceive they're drinking, then they will emulate the values of less drinking," said Frank Coleman, senior vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council, a trade group that has given $300,000 to 17 universities over the past few years for various alcohol abuse prevention programs, including social norms.

Anheuser-Busch, which brews Budweiser and Bud Light, said its support of social norms was money well spent. "These posters have made a positive change in student behavior," said John Kaestner, vice president for consumer affairs. "It sets the expectation for positive behavior." Full Text (709 words) Copyright Dow Jones & Company Inc Jul 24, 2003

A NEW NATIONAL study on a strategy to reduce student drinking on campus is likely to roil the alcohol industry and jolt college administrators.

The Harvard University study concludes that social-norms marketing -- a method that uses posters, T-shirts and other materials to try to convince students that their friends aren't really drinking very much -- doesn't reduce alcohol use. The strategy, which is backed by the industry, differs from traditional anti-alcohol approaches because it focuses on reducing heavy drinking rather than discouraging or prohibiting alcohol use altogether.

The drink-in-moderation pitch has been gaining support nationwide and is now used at almost half of the nation's four-year colleges, according to the study. The program is funded by various state and federal agencies, as well as a $2.7 million contribution from Anheuser-Busch Cos., the nation's largest brewer.

The study, which is the largest conducted so far, was funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and conducted by Henry Wechsler, director of college alcohol studies at the Harvard School of Public Health. It compared data from surveys conducted between 1997 and 2001 at 37 colleges that used social-norms marketing and 61 that did not.

The study found that students who were exposed to social-norms marketing showed no statistically significant decrease in alcohol consumption between 1997 and 2001. Most importantly, it concluded that social-norms marketing had no impact on heavy episodic drinking, which is defined as five or more consecutive drinks for men and four or more consecutive drinks for women at least once in a two-week period.

At schools with social-norms marketing, 45.9% of students reported binge drinking in the two weeks prior to being surveyed in 1997, and 48.6% reported it in 2001. By comparison, 40.4% of students at other schools reported binge drinking in 1997 and 41% reported it in 2001. Heavy drinking is associated with the death of about 1,400 college students every year, Dr. Wechsler says.

The study will be published in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol, a peer reviewed journal affiliated with Rutgers University that is supported by subscriptions and receives no outside funding, including advertising.

Some college students said they weren't surprised by the Harvard findings. Christopher Rusca, a 19-year-old junior at Fresno State in California, said that social-norms posters may actually goad students into drinking more. "If you want to rebel, it gives you a reason to drink," Mr. Rusca said. Added Aaron Flint, 23, the student body president at the University of Montana: "It's another one of those politically correct campaigns that gives us something to laugh at."

At the University of Virginia, which has supported the approach since 1999, posters state: "Two out of three UVA students have 0 to 4 drinks per week." The school said the program has reduced heavy drinking on campus.

"If you give kids information that says [other kids] are drinking less than they perceive they're drinking, then they will emulate the values of less drinking," said Frank Coleman, senior vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council, a trade group that has given $300,000 to 17 universities over the past few years for various alcohol abuse prevention programs, including social norms.

Others also defended the approach. "It celebrates the positive behaviors that are already being practiced by young people," said Michael Haines, director of the DeKalb, Ill.-based National Social Norms Resource Center, which is funded by state, university, and private sources, including a $500,000 donation from the Anheuser- Busch Foundation.

Anheuser-Busch, which brews Budweiser and Bud Light, said its support of social norms was money well spent. "These posters have made a positive change in student behavior," said John Kaestner, vice president for consumer affairs. "It sets the expectation for positive behavior."

But critics, including Dr. Wechsler, complain that the approach focuses responsibility on the individual and ignores the way products are marketed to college students, including underage drinkers. "These messages play down the problem and make the alcohol industry look better," he said.

George Hacker, director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., advocates other approaches to combat campus drinking, including raising the price of alcohol, eliminating special alcohol promotions, increasing alcohol taxes and limiting the availability of alcohol.

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