ASSESSMENT OF RURAL ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL USE

近三分之一的美国青少年生活在农村地区。 为这些 青少年，酒精使用及其相关后果是一个主要的公众 健康问题。 不幸的是，人们对这种疾病的流行情况知之甚少。 农村青少年饮酒或问题饮酒及相关因素， 尤其是对年轻的青少年。 这一信息对于 制定有效的预防方案，因为预防和 为大都市的各种疾病制定的服务方案 人口在农村地区通常不成功。 的目标 这项研究是为了更好地了解农村青少年的饮酒情况， 比较两个国家的饮酒率和问题饮酒率， 农村地区和一个大都市地区，并通过确定可修改的 与青少年饮酒相关的因素可能会导致 区域差异。 这项研究将涉及标准化工具的管理 评估饮酒行为、社会人口统计学和潜在风险， 1,000名青少年（12-14岁）的保护因素， 在一个乡村国家的三个特征鲜明的地区。 这将是 第一项评估农村青少年饮酒行为的研究（a） 使用来自多个站点的采样，（B）明确定义唯一 （c）评估不同农村地区的特点， 城市与农村的差异。 此外，重点将 对可能更容易受到预防性疾病影响的青少年 干预措施。 预计第一个奖项的结果将用于 (a)寻求纵向队列研究的资金， 样本和（B）协助修改现有的预防方案 或制定新的预防计划，以减少酒精使用 以及农村青少年的饮酒问题。 阿肯色州是进行这项研究的理想地点，因为它的历史 公共机构、教育工作者和调查人员之间的合作， 调查人员开展的广泛试点工作， 学校的合作、所描述的社会经济和文化 区域之间的差异，以及重大政策的可能性 在国家的影响。

Almost one-third of U.S. adolescents live in rural areas. For these teenagers, alcohol use and its related consequences are a major public health problem. Unfortunately, little is known about the prevalence of rural teenage drinking or problem drinking and associated factors, especially for the younger teenagers. This information is critical in the development of effective prevention programs because prevention and service programs developed for various disorders in metropolitan populations have typically been unsuccessful in rural areas. The goal of this study is to better understand rural adolescent alcohol use by comparing the prevalence of drinking and problem drinking between two rural regions and one metropolitan region, and by identifying modifiable factors associated with adolescent alcohol use that may account for regional differences. The study will involve administration of standardized instruments assessing drinking behavior, sociodemographics and potential risk or protective factors to 1,000 young adolescents (aged 12-14) from each of three well-characterized regions in a rural state. This will be the first research assessing drinking behavior in rural adolescents to (a) use sampling from multiple sites, (b) clearly define unique characteristics of different rural regions, and (c) assess intra-rural variation as well as urban-rural variation. Furthermore, the focus will be on young adolescents who may be more susceptible to preventive interventions. It is anticipated that results from this FIRST Award will be employed to (a) pursue funding for a longitudinal cohort study from this particular sample and (b) assist in the modification of existing prevention programs or development of new prevention programs targeted to reduce alcohol use and problem drinking in young rural adolescents. Arkansas is an ideal site to conduct this research because of the history of collaboration between public agencies, educators and investigators, the extensive pilot work conducted by the investigators with excellent cooperation by the schools, the well-described socioeconomic and cultural variation between regions, and the potential for significant policy impact in the state.