Curbing Adolescents’ Risky Drinking Behavior with Authenticity
研究提出一个真诚参与框架，通过混合信息（兼顾饮酒的正面和负面后果）、父母诚实与榜样作用、以及允许实验但有明确界限的环境，来减少青少年的危险饮酒行为，对家长、政策制定者和营销者有实际指导。
Adolescents’ risky drinking behavior continues to be a public policy concern, and insight into effective messages and behaviors that resonate with adolescents is needed. Evidence points to the potential of tapping into adolescents’ need for authenticity. Drawing on authenticity literature and implementing a mixed-methods approach using family group interviews, followed by a 1 × 3 between-subject experiment with adolescents, this research conceptualizes a novel authentic engagement framework for reducing adolescents’ risky behavior. The findings identify and test that messages about drinking need to acknowledge positive aspects while warning of the negative consequences (i.e., mixed messages) across three dimensions: social, hedonic, and safety. Alongside mixed messages, parents need to be honest about past experiences and align their behavior by acting as positive role models. Importantly, adolescents need an environment that enables them to experiment while having clear boundaries. Together, these approaches translate into openness and authenticity, critical for trust and the ability for adolescents to be true to themselves. The research has implications for parents and policy makers/marketers engaging with adolescents authentically about risky behavior, by providing information on message type and behaviors for effective training/educational programs and responsible drinking campaigns. The framework can be transferred to other contexts involving risky behavior.