Reducing drinking among junior enlisted Air Force members in five communities: early findings of the EUDL program's influence on self-reported drinking behaviors

• Published in: Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs Vol. 71; no. 3; p. 373
• Main Authors: Spera, Christopher, Franklin, Keita, Uekawa, Kazuaki, Kunz, John F, Szoc, Ronald Z, Thomas, Randall K, Cambridge, Milton H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.05.2010
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Alcohol Drinking - adverse effects; Alcohol Drinking - legislation & jurisprudence; Alcohol Drinking - prevention & control; Alcohol-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Alcohol-Related Disorders - prevention & control; Alcohol-Related Disorders - psychology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data Collection; Female; Humans; Male; Military Personnel - psychology; Military Personnel - statistics & numerical data; Risk; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1938-4114
• DOI: 10.15288/jsad.2010.71.373

In the fall of 2006, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention awarded discretionary grants to five communities in four states as part of the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws initiative. These 3-year grants were designed to support implementation of a set of interventions using an environmental strategies approach to reduce drinking and associated alcohol-related misconducts among active-duty Air Force members ages 18-25, with a specific focus on the underage population. The current article presents findings from Year 1 of the evaluation. Data on alcohol use were obtained from a large-scale, anonymous survey that fielded in the spring of 2006 (i.e., pretest) and the spring of 2008 (i.e., posttest) from a stratified random sample of Air Force members at five demonstration and five comparison communities. The percentage of junior enlisted personnel at risk for an alcohol problem dropped 6.6% in the Air Force overall during the last 2 years but dropped as much as 13.6% and 9.8% in two Arizona demonstration communities that implemented the intervention. The first-year results suggest that the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws intervention may have been one factor that helped to reduce the percentage of junior enlisted Air Force members at risk for an alcohol problem in the demonstration communities.