SUMMIT ADDRESSES DECLINE IN TOBACCO, ALCOHOL USE BY TEENS

Buffalo Trace area Champions for a Drug-Free Kentucky clubs will be using
marketing techniques to promote drug and alcohol abstinence in area high
schools this year.

About 200 young people attended the 15th annual Region VIII Youth Summit at
Lewis County High School Saturday. This year's theme, "NOT all of us,"
reflects the results of a survey of area schools during the 2001-2002
school year which showed the majority of students do not use tobacco,
alcohol or drugs.

The day-long summit is highly structured and consists of workshops, small
group discussions, speakers, presentations and, at the end, a dance.

"In our region, the youth conference has proven to be a successful peer
influence program that encourages healthy lifestyle choices and provides
teens with leadership skills and substance abuse prevention information
that will help to strengthen their confidence as role models," said Karen
Amstutz, conference coordinator.

Everyone Doesn't Do It

Kim Vance and Loretta Carroll, from the Regional Prevention Center, gave a
power-point presentation on social norming.

Social norming is used in advertising, for example, to convince the
audience that everyone drinks a certain soda or all the cool people do; so
the viewer should too.

Frequently, Vance said, teens overestimate the amount of substance use
among their peers. For example, there is a myth that Eastern Kentucky
University is among the top 5 percent of the nation's "party" schools.

In fact, EKU students drink no more than students at other universities,
Vance said. And 40 percent of EKU students don't drink at all.

Social norming can be used to correct the perception that "everyone does
it," she said.

The five strategies of social norming are to: use positive messages, not
use scare tactics, focus on the majority when possible; keep the message
simple, not overload the message with too many statistics; use several
forms of media; and tell the truth.

After the presentation, individual Champions clubs from the seven area high
schools met to come up with plans on implementing a social norming strategy
at their own schools.

Taking the Message to the Students

About 20 student from the Mason County Champions club went over the survey
results for Mason County and devised their strategy.

Christine Merrill volunteered to chair the social norming project and led
the group in a brainstorming session on what to focus on, what media to use
and how to theme the project.

In 2001-2002 students in sixth, eighth and 12th grades were given an
anonymous survey. In Mason County, the survey revealed that 70 percent of
those students said they had not used alcohol in the preceding month; 80
percent had not used marijuana; 88 percent had not used cocaine and 67
percent had not smoked.

The survey results for the Buffalo Trace area were somewhat different with
63 percent not using alcohol the preceding month; 82 percent not using
marijuana; 95 percent not using cocaine; and 62 percent not smoking.

The Mason County Champions members were surprised by the survey results.
They said they thought the number of students using drugs and alcohol was
higher. A number of the members thought the group's focus should be on
tobacco use, but the majority thought they should focus on alcohol.

A number of themes for the group's campaign were discussed including:
"Drink and Drown," "Drinking beer won't get you anywhere," and "Alcohol is
not a ball."

Amstutz reminded them to focus on social norming and the positive aspects
of the survey.

Champions member Melissa Bone then came up with tag line "The Right Idea,"
because the majority of kids have the right idea by not drinking.

The group agreed to hold bake sales and other fund-raisers to get the money
to print up flyers and make posters. A number of the group's members also
agreed to write and perform public service announcements for the radio.

Each Champions club came up with their own focus and strategy and will be
taking the campaign into the spring semester.

The Youth Summit is implemented by Comprehend's Regional Prevention Center.

For more information on Region VIII Champions for a Drug Free Kentucky,
check out the Web site at www.u-need-2-know.com