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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Lisa Cacari Stone, PhD, Department of Society, Human Develoment and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Landmark Center, 3 East, Room 437, 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, 505-577-3540, lcacari@hsph.harvard.edu

The problems and consequences associated with substance abuse among border youth are of great public health concern. Among prevention strategies, local and national policy interventions have been found to have the most potent influence- but currently the least well understood strategies for preventing, reducing, or eliminating substance abuse. This study aims to reduce that knowledge gap by establishing a baseline policy data set that can be used to conduct future policy effectiveness studies. It also identifies and assesses policy approaches that target underage drinking in the southwest border area. Alcohol policies targeting border youth are compared and analyzed to existing national standards of empirically supported policy interventions.

Semi-structured interviews with key-informants in the four border-states serve as the main data collection method, augmented by secondary data analysis drawing from the Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS, NIAAA). Data on the existing policies (federal, state, and local) that address youth alcohol use are categorized and analyzed into three areas of policy to: limit access, influence the culture and contexts of use, and to reduce negative consequences of use. Data show existing gaps and areas where policies are conflicting at the community, state and binational levels. Results are presented as a baseline for future monitoring and evaluating environmental interventions and for identifying existing gaps and areas where policies are conflicting. Recommendations are provided for future policies that are harmoniously comprehensive in addressing culturally specific problems within the context of border youth drinking in both the U.S. and Mexico.

Learning Objectives: