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Examining the impact of changes in school-level policies on youth binge drinking

Alin Herciu-Ivascu

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Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
In 2012, over half of grade 12 students binge drank (had 5 or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting). Student binge drinking is concerning because it increases one's risk of road traffic accidents, neurotoxicity, cardiovascular diseases, and various cancers. Although most Canadian youth attend high school, little information is known about how school policies and programs affect this behaviour in this population. As a result, the school setting may be an appropriate place for intervening to reduce binge drinking behaviours if effective prevention measures can be identified. The purpose of this research will be to look at how changes in alcohol-specific school policies and programs impact the number of high school students who binge drink. This relationship will be studied using a Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded COMPASS study and I will be the first person to examine such a relationship using the COMPASS binge drinking data. This is important since research shows that population level interventions are better than individual level interventions at preventing risky youth behaviours. Student binge drinking data will be collected using the COMPASS questionnaire. This data will be collected in Year 2 of the COMPASS study from about 22,500 grade 9-11 students and once more in Year 3 from the same students (grade 10-12) attending 79 Ontario high schools. School-level policies and programs will be assessed using the School Programs and Policies (SPP) questionnaire. Statistical methods will establish associations between alcohol-specific school policies and programs and youth binge drinking. Findings from this research will help to determine which school policies and programs can help to reduce the number of students who binge drink.

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