In September 1999, Texas A&M University began notifying parents of underage students involved in alcohol-related infractions. A year earlier, without prior knowledge of the impending policy, we conducted an alcohol consumption survey among undergraduates (N=316). In the fall of 2000, a year into the policy, we conducted a follow-up study (N=352). Alcohol consumption at home (controlling for known predictors) increased (3.51 drinks per weekend before the policy; 4.82 after; p<.05) but the rates of increase between underage and adult students were not significantly different; consumption at a bar or restaurant did not significantly increase; but consumption in party settings revealed the most deleterious effect. Controlling for known predictors of alcohol consumption, there was a significant main effect for wave of survey (before=2.95, after=3.88, p<.05) and a significant interaction between legal age status and wave of survey (F=7.4, p< .01): change in adult students' consumption was not significant (before=3.76, after=3.43, p>.5), but underage students' consumption increased significantly (from 2.14 to 4.33, p<.01). The policy may have had a "boomerang effect." Whereas underage students did not consume more alcohol in the privacy of their homes or in public settings (like bars) where citations could be issued, they consumed significantly more alcohol in parties and social gatherings where social norms for defiance for authority are much more meaningful. These results point to the dangers of well-intentioned but punitively based alcohol policies that exacerbate the problems they were meant to solve.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be made aware of how well-intentioned policies can backfire and exacerbate the problem they were meant to solve.
Keywords: Policy/Policy Development, Alcohol Use
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Texas A&M University
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.