[Alcohol education among junior high school students. Results from a WHO educational program]

A school-based social influences approach to alcohol education was tested among Norwegian 8th grade lower secondary school students. The goal of the programme was to delay onset and minimize involvement in use of alcohol among the participants. 15 schools were randomly assigned to peer-led education, teacher-led education or a control condition. The programme focused on the social and environmental influences to drink alcohol, and skills to resist those influences. It consisted of five lessons over two months. Baseline and post-test data measured alcohol-use, knowledge, attitudes, skills, friends' drinking, and intentions to drink alcohol in the future. Data were collected immediately prior to and following the educational programme. The data indicate that peer-led education appears to be efficacious in reducing alcohol use and intention to use alcohol. There was no intervention effect of the peer-led programme for knowledge, attitudes or skills. There was no intervention effect for the teacher-led education.