There appears to be a one-way effect of alcohol marketing exposure on adolescents' alcohol use over time, which cannot be explained by either previous drinking or exposure to non-alcohol-branded marketing.

Evidence-based preventive interventions for adolescent substance use, violence, and mental health issues are increasingly being adapted and disseminated internationally. In the present paper, we report the results of an effectiveness study that was part of a comprehensive initiative by a coalition of health promotion organizations in the Lombardy region of Italy to select, culturally adapt, implement, evaluate, and sustain an evidence-based drug abuse prevention program developed in the USA. Findings are presented from a large-scale effectiveness study of the Life Skills Training prevention program among over 3000 students attending 55 middle schools in Italy. The prevention program taught drug refusal skills, antidrug norms, personal self-management skills, and general social skills. Relative to comparison group students, students who received the prevention program were less likely to initiate smoking at the post-test and 2-year follow-up, and less likely to initiate weekly drunkenness at the 1-year follow-up. The program had direct positive effects on several cognitive, attitudinal, and skill variables believed to play a protective role in adolescent substance use. The findings from this study show that a drug abuse prevention program originally designed for adolescents in the USA is effective in a sample of Italian youth when a rigorous and systematic approach to cultural adaptation is followed that incorporates the input of multiple stakeholders.

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Ongoing demographic changes are challenging health systems worldwide especially in relation to increasing longevity and the resultant rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). To meet these challenges, a paradigm shift to a more proactive approach to health promotion, and maintenance is needed. This new paradigm focuses on creating and implementing an ecological model of Culture of Health. The conceptualization of the Culture of Health is defined as one where good health and well-being flourish across geographic, demographic, and social sectors; fostering healthy equitable communities where citizens have the opportunity to make choices and be co-producers of healthy lifestyles. Based on Antonovsky's Salutogenesis model which asserts that the experience of health moves along a continuum across the lifespan, we will identify the key drivers for achieving a Culture of Health. These include mindset/expectations, sense of community, and civic engagement. The present article discusses these drivers and identifies areas where policy and research actions are needed to advance positive change on population health and well-being. We highlight empirical evidence of drivers within the EU guided by the activities within the thematic Action Groups of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Aging (EIP on AHA), focusing on Lifespan Health Promotion and Prevention of Age-Related Frailty and Disease (A3 Action Group). We will specifically focus on the effect of Culture on Health, highlighting cross-cutting drivers across domains such as innovations at the individual and community level, and in synergies with business, policy, and research entities. We will present examples of drivers for creating a Culture of Health, the barriers, the remaining gaps, and areas of future research to achieve an inclusive and sustainable asset-based community.