An Experimental Test of Reward & Reminder as a Stand-Alone Program to Prevent Alcohol Sales to Underage Youths

Abstract

abstract Reward & Reminder has been a component of community-based preventive efforts against sales of substances (e.g., tobacco) to youths. To date, there has not been a randomized trial of Reward & Reminder as a stand-alone prevention program targeting youth access to alcohol. In this study, we address that gap. Data were collected as part of a randomized trial of a school- and community-based prevention program. Our analysis included 23 vendors in control communities and 33 vendors in intervention communities. We visited each vendor at least two times, and vendors in intervention communities received the Reward & Reminder protocol. Using McNemar’s test, which evaluates the degree to which the outlets in each condition moved to a different cell in the contingency table from the first visit to the second (i.e., from yes to no or vice versa), we found that the control outlets did not change (all p values were non-significant). In contrast, the intervention outlets were significantly more likely to ask for identification (p < .05) and significantly less willing to sell alcohol to young-looking project confederates (p < .05); Asked for Age did not change. We conclude that Reward & Reminder could assist in preventing underage access to alcohol.