Peer participation in Project Northland: a community-wide alcohol use prevention project

This paper describes the rationale, conceptual framework, and program components of a peer participation program for prevention of alcohol use among young adolescents. The peer participation program was one component of Project Northland, a community-wide program that seeks to prevent or delay onset of alcohol use among a cohort of young adolescents. The peer participation program, implemented in 20 northeastern Minnesota schools when students were in seventh grade, consisted of student groups who planned supervised, alcohol-free activities for themselves and their classmates. Program goals included 1) providing peer leadership and social support for non-use of alcohol, 2) creating opportunities for alternative behaviors to alcohol use, thereby 3) creating a norm of non-use among young adolescents.