Curbing Adolescents’ Risky Drinking Behavior with Authenticity

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.