FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Michael Haines, Director
National Social Norms Resource Center
815.753.9745

Dekalb, IL (July 24, 2006) - At this year's National Social Norms Conference, July 26-28 in Denver, four presentations will highlight the impact of social norms efforts at the high-school level addressing drinking, drug use and even bullying in adolescent children. For the past 16 years, social norms programs have achieved great success at the college level, and now that success is being seen at the secondary level.

Social norms methodology is a widely implemented approach of public health promotion based on communicating accurate information about the prevalence of healthy behavior in order to produce more healthy behavior.

"The success social norms programs have had at reducing high-risk drinking and promoting healthy behaviors at the college level has been remarkable, and we're seeing similar response for high-school settings," said Michael Haines, director of the National Social Norms Resource Center. "The results achieved through these programs are extremely encouraging and are a testament to the validity of the approach."

Sessions at the 2006 Conference that will spotlight these programs include:

• The ACTUALITY Project in Fort Collins, Colorado--This Stuff Really Works! - Scoot Crandall, M.S.Ed., Executive Director, TEAM Fort Collins. ACTUALITY, the Fort Collins Social Norms Project, brings together a variety of community sectors in order to promote health through innovative social norms campaigns. Between the 2003 and 2005 school year, the number of students who said they were NOT drinking and driving went from 84 percent to 89 percent, representing a significant jump in students who had changed their behavior based on the programs' initiatives. Proof of further accomplishment, the project was recently awarded the 2005 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Community Initiative Award in recognition of the successful "Live Large" project that reduced drinking and driving behavior in one local high school.
• "Now You Know!": Challenging Underage Drinking and Driving - Jane McCall Whitmer, M.A., M.S., Preventing Persistent Drunk Driving Coordinator, Chaffee County Health and Human Services and Karen Abrahamson, M.S.W., M.S., Prevention Field Manager, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, Colorado Department of Human Services. Chaffee County, a rural Colorado community, is beginning its fourth year of implementing a social norms campaign. The first three years of the campaign targeted youth and promoted positive attitudes and practices around preventing underage drinking and drinking and driving. While all data have not yet been evaluated, data for Salida High School in Chaffee County shows that for 9th, 10th and 11th grade students 30-day alcohol use declined eight percentage points from 2003 to 2005; marijuana use declined eight percentage points from 2003 to 2005; impaired driving declined five percentage points from 2003 to 2005; and ridden with an impaired driver declined 10 percentage points from 2003 to 2005.
• Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Area Senior High (SPASH) Social Norms: A Successful Intervention to Promote the Health of High School Students - Denise Enders, B.S., SPASH Social Norms Coordinator; Chuck Graham, M.S., School Psychologist & District AODA/Title V Coordinator and Jerry Gargulak, M.S., SPASH School Psychologist. Started in 2004, the Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Area High School (SPASH) Social Norms Project uses a normative theoretical approach and marketing strategies to correct students' misperceptions of peer alcohol and other drug use. A key component of the project has been the inclusion of parents and school staff as well, since data indicate that they overestimate student alcohol, tobacco and other drug use. To date, the project has resulted in a 14 percent decrease in the anticipated rate of student alcohol use as they progress through high school.
• Assessing Bullying in Secondary Schools with a New Online Survey: Applying the Social Norms Model to Adolescent Violence - H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology and Director, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Alcohol Education Project and David W. Craig, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Director, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Alcohol Education Project. A new online survey has been developed for use in assessing bullying in secondary schools and for conducting social norms interventions. The vast majority of students, between 63 and 89 percent, did not participate in bullying behaviors (teasing, kicking, hitting, pulling of hair, threatening another student). In contrast, the overwhelming majority, about 81 percent, overestimated the prevalence of this bullying behavior. Furthermore, students underestimate support among peers for reporting bullying behavior to teachers and administrators. These misperceptions are similar to published findings regarding student drinking and driving, alcohol abuse and drug use and provide strong evidence that a social norms approach may be effective in reducing bullying and related violence among adolescents.

About The National Social Norms Resource Center:
The National Social Norms Resource Center is an independent center that supports, promotes and provides technical assistance in the application of the social norms approach to a broad range of health, safety and social justice issues, including alcohol-related risk-reduction and the prevention of tobacco abuse. It is the only national center devoted exclusively to the understanding and use of the social norms approach. It is the only national center devoted exclusively to the understanding and use of the social norms approach. Opened on July 1, 2000, the Center is directed by Michael Haines, a nationally recognized proponent and pioneering practitioner of the social norms approach. For more information, visit www.socialnorms.org.

The National Social Norms conference is co-sponsored by The BACCHUS Network, About The National Social Norms Resource Center The National Social Norms Resource Center is an independent center that supports, promotes and provides technical assistance in the application of the social norms approach to a broad range of health, safety and social justice issues, including alcohol-related risk-reduction and the prevention of tobacco abuse. It is the only national center devoted exclusively to the understanding and use of the social norms approach. It is the only national center devoted exclusively to the understanding and use of the social norms approach. Opened on July 1, 2000, the Center is directed by Michael Haines, a nationally recognized proponent and pioneering practitioner of the social norms approach. For more information, visit www.socialnorms.org. The National Social Norms conference is co-sponsored by The BACCHUS Network, www.bacchusnetwork.org.