Turning Down the Heat on Adolescent Substance Use: Findings from Reframing Research

This report is part of the FrameWork Institute’s larger, multi-method project to design and test framing strategies aimed at improving public understanding of adolescent substance use. This report builds on earlier research around gaps between expert and public thinking about adolescent substance use and provides multiple “frame elements” that can be used to reorient and expand public conversation about adolescent substance use. Effective frames were identified through on-the-street interviews, surveys, persistence trials, and peer discourse sessions and include elements ranging from a shared “moral responsibility” to addressing how screening is named and explained. The report presents key evidence in support of these findings and interprets results to offer insight into how the “frame elements” can be used to address communication challenges around adolescent substance use.

Andrew Volmert, Julie Sweetland & Nat Kendall-Taylor, FrameWorks Institute