Using Statewide Youth Surveys to Evaluate Local Drug Use Policies and Interventions

This article summarizes two studies that use statewide school-based youth surveys to evaluate local initiatives to reduce alcohol and other substance abuse. The Vermont "New Directions" evaluation was conducted to assess the effects of a community-based intervention in 23 Vermont communities to reduce youth substance use. Outcome data were obtained from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is administered to students in grades 8 through 12 every other year in almost all school districts in the state. Based on a quasi-experimental design, results indicated significant declines in cigarette and marijuana use in intervention districts relative to comparison districts during the study period, and led to legislative action to continue funding the initiative. The Oregon "Reducing Youth Access to Alcohol" study is now being conducted in 36 Oregon communities (45 school districts) with a randomized controlled design to evaluate six combined environmental strategies to reduce underage drinking. The strategies include a reward and reminder program and minor decoy operations to reduce commercial alcohol availability, party patrol dispersal and minor in possession arrests to reduce social alcohol availability, traffic emphasis, and media advocacy to increase visibility of policy enforcement activities. The Oregon Healthy Teens Survey has been administered in a large number of Oregon school districts annually since 2000 and is being used to assess intervention effects on alcohol availability, underage drinking and alcohol-related problems such as DUI. These studies illustrate how established statewide youth surveys offer important advantages for evaluating local substance abuse prevention policies and interventions.