Study Links Alcohol Ads to Youth Drinking

(July 2, 2007) -- Adolescents who attend schools in neighborhoods where alcohol advertisements are prominent experience heightened intentions to drink, a team of researchers from the University of Minnesota and the University of Florida discovered.

The study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, recorded 931 alcohol advertisements within a 1,500-foot radius of 63 schools in the Chicago area. Students who were exposed to these advertisements in sixth grade were more likely to hold positive attitudes about alcohol and have higher intentions to drink by the time they reach eighth grade. Although more than 75 percent of the ads featured the alcohol’s brand-name or price only, students exposed to them were significantly more likely to exhibit increased intentions to drink, thus suggesting that advertisements do not need to be directed at children for children to internalize them.

"It is not just ads that are particularly appealing to youth that influence children’s intentions to use alcohol," said Keryn Pasch, M.P.H., Ph.D., University of Minnesota School of Public Health and first author of the study. "This study provides further evidence of the influence of advertisements on children. Even those students who had not tried alcohol at the start of the study were influenced by the alcohol advertisements."

After excluding 22 schools where there were no alcohol ads, researchers recorded an average of 28 ads in each neighborhood; one school had more than 100. This is especially troubling because previous research has shown that adolescents’ attitudes about alcohol generally predict their future behaviors.

Youth who drink before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking after age 18. Adolescents who start drinking early are more likely to become addicted to alcohol, smoke cigarettes, use drugs, and have trouble in school, previous studies show. About half of all teens have tried alcohol by the time they are 15. Pasch suggests that this high prevalence of youth drinking warrants more research on the causes of youth drinking and how to implement effective preventative efforts.

"Restrictions on alcohol advertising around schools are needed to reduce the influence that this type of advertising has on children," Pasch said.

Contact

Jenna Langer, Academic Health Center, 612-626-4784
Sara Buss, Academic Health Center, 612-624-2449