Bethesda, Md. – A new version of The Cool Spot (www.thecoolspot.gov), a youth alcohol prevention Web site, launched this week.  The site, aimed at 11- to 13-year-olds, was created by The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
 

The Cool Spot uses games, quizzes, and popular Japanese-inspired animation and graphics to inform middle school students about the risks of underage drinking and ways to resist peer pressure.  

Visitors to www.thecoolspot.gov  will see these and other features:

    Reality Check -- quizzes users on how much drinking is really going on in the U.S. The answers often surprise kids and adults alike.

   Peer Pressure Bag of Tricks -- presents animated scenes that invite users to identify some common peer pressure “tricks.” Spotting these tricks is the first step to resisting them.  

   Know your No’s -- introduces users to a variety of ways to say no and helps them learn which one is the most effective.

   Deep Digging -- depicts why using alcohol as a solution to problems, or a way of trying to cope, is trouble.

   Whaddya Know? -- poses 10 questions that encourage users to search the site for the answers. Downloadable icons and backgrounds serve as a reward for getting all answers correct.

The site’s interactive peer pressure sections were a standout, according to middle school boys and girls who participated in focus testing.  “I didn’t know there were different types of peer pressure. I just thought it was one big thing,” said one youth. Others said that “it taught you a lot” and it was “important because peer pressure is the main thing in drinking.”

The Cool Spot’s new content was adapted from an alcohol prevention program for grades six through eight developed by NIAAA-supported researchers at the University of Michigan. "The Cool Spot uses engaging games and graphics to deliver important messages about the risks of underage drinking and ways to resist peer pressure," says NIAAA Director Ting-Kai Li, M.D.  "It's vital to reach this age group, because the younger people are when they start to drink, the higher their chances of developing an alcohol problem at some point in their lives."

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) is a component of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIAAA conducts and supports approximately 90 percent of the U.S. research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol problems. Additional alcohol research information and publications are available at www.niaaa.nih.gov.