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Reducing youth violence related to student parties: Findings from a community intervention project in Stockholm
Author(s) -
Ramstedt Mats,
Leifman Håkan,
Müller Daniel,
Sundin Erica,
Norström Thor
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
drug and alcohol review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.018
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1465-3362
pISSN - 0959-5236
DOI - 10.1111/dar.12069
Subject(s) - graduation (instrument) , intervention (counseling) , psychology , estimation , suicide prevention , demography , medicine , poison control , environmental health , psychiatry , sociology , engineering , mechanical engineering , systems engineering
Background During the spring of 2007, the police reported a marked increase in violence and binge drinking related to high school student graduation parties on weekday nights at restaurants in Stockholm city. This spurred a multi‐component community intervention project to reduce these problems. Aims This study aims to evaluate the impact of the intervention on youth‐related violence on weekday nights in 2008–2010. Design and Method The outcome measure entailed the number of violence‐related emergency room visits on weekday nights (10:00 pm–6:00 am) by adolescents aged 18–20 years. The study period was 1 A pril–31 M ay, which is when most student graduation parties took place. The data covered the years 2005–2010, with three data points before the intervention, and three after the intervention was introduced. Because the intervention was expected to apply to weekdays only, the control series involved a corresponding indicator pertaining to weekend nights (10:00 pm–6:00 am). The intervention effect was assessed by means of difference‐in‐differences estimation. Results The estimated intervention effect according to the difference‐in‐differences estimation models was a statistically significant 23% reduction of violence among young people. Discussion and Conclusion This type of intervention is a promising measure of preventing youth violence and deserves to be continued. Such continuation would also provide additional data required for a more conclusive assessment. [Ramstedt M, Leifman H, Müller D, Sundin E, Norström T. Reducing youth violence related to student parties: Findings from a community intervention project in Stockholm . Drug Alcohol Rev 2013;32:561–565]