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Systematic statewide youth surveys in the U.S. began in 1990 as part of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System--now commonly referred to as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)--designed by [...], This article summarizes two studies that use statewide school-based youth surveys to evaluate local initiatives to reduce alcohol and other substance abuse. The Vermont New Directions evaluation was conducted to assess the effects of a community-based intervention in 23 Vermont communities to reduce youth substance use. Outcome data were obtained from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is administered to students in grades 8 through 12 every other year in almost all school districts in the state. Based on a quasi-experimental design, results indicated significant declines in cigarette and marijuana use in intervention districts relative to comparison districts during the study period, and led to legislative action to continue funding the initiative. The Oregon Reducing Youth Access to Alcohol study is now being conducted in 36 Oregon communities (45 school districts) with a randomized controlled design to evaluate six combined environmental strategies to reduce underage drinking. The strategies include a reward and reminder program and minor decoy operations to reduce commercial alcohol availability, party patrol dispersal and minor in possession arrests to reduce social alcohol availability, traffic emphasis, and media advocacy to increase visibility of policy enforcement activities. KEY WORDS: Surveys, youth, subsance use, Oregon, alcohol.

Young people have well-developed beliefs about alcohol and its effects even before they have any personal experience with drinking (Miller et al., 1990; Goldman et al., 1987; Christiansen et al., [...], In an effort to ascertain how youths interpret, understand and respond to the themes and images portrayed in television alcohol advertisements, focus-group discussions were conducted with students ages 9-15 in a Northern California community. These discussions revealed that students like lifestyle and image-oriented elements of television beer commercials that are delivered with humor and youth-oriented music and/or characters. Conversely, they dislike product-oriented elements of alcohol commercials. Students identified the main message of television beer commercials as an exhortation to purchase the product based on its quality and its relationship to sexual attractiveness. Participants indicated that beer commercials imply that attractive young adults drink beer to personally rewarding ends. These findings suggest that television beer commercials may need to focus less on youthful lifestyle images and more on the product itself in order to appeal less to young people. KEY WORDS: Television, alcohol advertising, youth.

National surveys of adolescents consistently show that alcohol is the drug of choice among young people in most countries (e.g., CCSA/CAMH, 1999; Hibell et al., 1997; Johnston, O'Malley & Bachman, [...], Policy approaches to prevention have considerable promise for addressing underage drinking and its associated problems. Based on the available evidence, the most effective policies appear to be (a) taxation or price increases, (b) increases in the minimum drinking age, and (c) graduated licensing or zero tolerance. Random breath testing and sobriety checkpoints also appear promising, although there is little evidence for their effectiveness specifically with young people. Major changes in the conditions of sale (e.g., privatization) may also affect the availability of alcohol to young people and thus underage drinking. The evidence is less convincing, however, for the effects of more modest license restrictions (e.g., limiting outlet density, hours of sale), responsible beverage service, advertising restrictions, warning labels, keg registration, and school policies. It is clear from the available research that no policy can be effective unless it is accompanied by enforcement and by awareness on the part of the intended targets of both the policy and the enforcement efforts. KEY WORDS: Underage drinking, prevention, adolescents, alcohol policy.