Applying Behavioral Theory to an Innovative School-Based Program for Preventing Underage Drinking and Impaired Driving

Edwena Corley African American Future A Review and psychoanalysis of the American Journal of wellness Studies phrase Applying behavioural Theory to an Innovative School-Based computer program For Preventing pocket-size Drinking and Impaired drive Diane Everett September 24, 2012 The bind yields to the dangerous truth that minor imbibing is a difficulty. The condition come on notes that it is in addition met publicity that peaks and shifts through let out decades.Currently all drunk drivers ar cosmosness targeted on a national scale, just teenagedaged private road is not cosmos addressed head on as it had been previously. One deterrent example and speculation, the transtheoretical model and the tender cognitive theory, were presented deep down the article in an effort to explain why pocket-size drunkenness contrive gots place and as well as why teenages who have been tipsiness, regardless(prenominal) of whether or not they ar intoxicated, desire tha t they are open to function and drive at the uniform rate and with the very(prenominal) control as when they are sober.They alike present replys at interpersonal and community take aims. The interpersonal level of deepen samples to alter peer tempt and the community level promotes positive behaviors such(prenominal) as desisting from alcohol and denounces negative behaviors such as beverage and hotheaded. The latter is slackly presented in the form of real disembodied spirit scenarios. Price et al. (2009) notes that alcohol is the premier medicine of choice for teenagers, with the onset of venial drinking occurring, on average, around age 13.In 2001, 13% percent of high school school-age childs inform operating a vehicle on angiotensin converting enzyme of much than occasions by and by or while drinking alcohol, and 31% reported beingness a passenger to a peer who had been drinking. These statistics are take aback only when not as frequently as the sti ck toing facts derived from that same societal class 3,608 drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 were killed and an superfluous 337,000 were injured in car crashes. nigh 25% of drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 who are killed in crashes were legally intoxicated.Peer coerce, the grownup attitudes that parents possess toward underage drinking, and also the change maintain levels of alcohol advertising campaigns have been determine as roots ca accustoms of underage drinking. nigh parents believe it is meetable if their children and their friends drink as long as they are obtain the alcohol for them, and are monitoring their use of the substance in home (Price et al. , 2009). The article mentions a program known as Shattered Dreams sought to weed out the issues or variables that influence underage drinking.The info gathered from this program was used to wreak or so awareness and offer solutions. The transtheoretical model that the authors propose for the execution of combative solution to the issue of underage drinking and madcap has five puts pre-contemplation, contemplation, set, action, and maintenance. The precontemplation map deals with the rout being in denial about their baffling behavior, while in the contemplation constitute the content realizes that a problem exists, however they have not yet begun to take steps toward correcting the issue(s) at hand.The preparation stage acts a mile marker because it is connotative of the subject actually making a conscious decision to change their knotted behavior by utilizing their unusedly need skills and continuing to learn unexampled skills that are conducive to more effective and unceasing change. The action stage speaks for itself, as the subject then begins to put into motion the new behaviors that ordain replace the negative behaviors. Maintenance, the lowest stage of the transtheoretical model, focuses on consistency (Price et al. 2009). Teenagers, more than any different gr oup of raft believe that they are invincible, which is why underage drinking and driveway is an issue it is also why sexually transmitted diseases scattering rapidly throughout high schools, and why immature pregnancy is continuing to helix out of control. Teenagers are often in denial for multiple causations the primary reason being not wanting to odour vulnerable. The admittance of fault makes an soulfulness savor as though they are subordinate of soul or something.Admitting that ones underage drinking is an issue could also mean no longer meet viewed as cool or pull up stakes of the in crowd, because peer pressure plays a huge role in teenage complaisant interactions. To overcome denial heretofore does not mean that one is construct to go forth in foothold of discontinuing their drinking, or drinking and opting to find a designated driver. The ultimate goal of the teenager should be to abstain because they have yet to top the age of maturity in their state where if they would then be lawful to purchase alcohol.When an underage driver decides to abstain from alcohol altogether because they are aware that it is a crime, they must also realize that drinking and getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle is hazardous to themselves, and also anyone else with whom they share the road. When applying the transtheoretical model to underage drinking and driving, precontemplation occurs when the underage person realizes that they are endangering the lives of many, but they still drink ascribable to two obvious and unforeseen reasons (i. e. peer pressure and/or undiagnosed first gear).If the adolescent suffers from depression that is unfounded to a healthcare professional, they whitethorn choose to exposeicipate in other problematic behaviors which cause them to be further engulfed in a lifestyle that allow prove to be even more complicated to change. The contemplation stage may be reached when something monumental transpires, such as a c withd raw friend last in a car stroking because they too chose to drink and drive. This stage leases about a sense of urgency to change, be it brought on by fear or a true desire to change.Whatever the matter, the individual will benefit if they are ordain to take the steps to patron themselves. When undergoing the preparation stage the at-risk adolescent may seek help from a parent by asking them to set up an assignment with a therapist, depending on the severity of the alcohol related behaviors. If the drinking has reached a really reckless stage then the adolescent may meet with their parent and a healthcare professional to discuss being admitted to an institution. The action stage would consist of the teen actually going to a posing of therapy.Furthermore, if the therapist proposes that the client also suffice alcoholic anonymous (AA) meetings, they would be quick-scented to attend as it compliments their treatment. If the teen is aware that they need to be in an alcohol tre atment facility they would follow through with their plan to be admitted on their admit date. The most important part of the action stage is the maintenance stage because they go hand in hand. aid only one therapy session and one AA meeting will not help or heal the issue. To be invariable with ones treatment insures outlying(prenominal) more belief in oneself to abstain for newly introduced reasons.The maintenance stage within an alcohol treatment facility is both(prenominal) simple and complex in nature. opus in the facility the professionals house therein will see to it that mandatory sobriety is maintained, but the tricky part is remain nondrinker upon ones uncover from the institution. The management that the social cognitive theory (SCT) fits into this model is simple. It climbs through all of the stages, rearranging the social aspects of it and calling for a sense of possibility in maintaining self-efficacy. According to Bandura (1986) and Price et al. 2009) socia l cognitive theory (SCT) assumes that people, their behavior, and their environments interact unendingly and that specific mediators facilitate behavioral change. so if peer pressure is the root of underage drinking, then modifying of social spheres is necessary, but due to the self-efficacy aspect, it is the prerogative of the subject or adolescent to denounce troublesome friendships and establish new healthy ones. It is in no way possible to undergo treatment and offer to hang out with peers who drink and drive.Even if the new-found abstinent teen continues to act as a passenger to the intoxicated party, they may lose their lives in a fatal diagonal as a result. The specific mediators that are to encourage the behavioral evolution of the subject would be the aforementioned healthcare professions, parents, or a combination of both. While drinking and driving will more than seeming continue to be a problem the ages, the best way to tackle it is to bring about a sense of knowle dge and urgency among teens.This has been done through prelim findings that are indicative of improved scholarly person awareness of the risks and consequences of underage drinking and driving and suggested that students expectations about alcohol use were less positive after participation in the program (Price et al. , 2009). Furthermore, other programs, in accredited states and school districts across the nation vehicles that have been involved in drunk driving accidents have been approved for placement extraneous of high school, on the lawn or conterminous to the signage While some students view it as a scare tactic, it is proven to spring for others.The students who are unfazed by it, perceive it as a prop, but the horror is that those same individuals who do not accept the change that is imperative to protect their family, friends and ultimately themselves will more than likely end up dying in one of those cars thereafter their vehicle or the vehicle of their victim bein g placed outside someone elses school. The overall goal of this article was to urge helping professionals to bring to imperfect the issue of underage drinking and driving but approach it as hinting that the student involved have an issue and going away them to evolve on their own.This is because teenagers generally fond up to positive behavior quicker and are more apt to accept participate in said behaviors, if they believe it was their idea, versus it being forced upon them.Bibliography Price, M. A. , Salazar, C. I. , Villarreal, C. L. , Guerra, C. M. , Villarreal, R. , amp Stewart, R. M. (2009). Applying Behavioral Theory To an Innovative School-Based Program For Preventing Underage Drinking and Impaired. American Journal of Health Studies, 24(1), 223-231. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.