Search

This document summarizes findings from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's National Cross-Site Evaluation of High-Risk Youth Programs, which identified characteristics associated with strong substance abuse prevention outcomes in 48 prevention programs. It provides concrete guidance regarding what elements of design and implementation are key to achieving results within a particular setting. Results indicate that program content is critical to improving adolescent behavior. Programs with strong life skills programming are more effective than those emphasizing other content in changing substance use and school connectedness. Effective programming must use interactive, rather than passive, classroom style learning methods. Effective interactive activities should be a focus of future program development. Programs with coherent program theory that includes clear links between outcome objectives and program activities are more effective than programs with a less clearly articulated rationale. The intensity of program service is more important for outcomes than the duration or total number of hours of contact. After-school programs are more effective in changing cigarette and alcohol use and family connectedness than programs offered primarily during school hours. (Contains 9 references and 23 figures.) (SM)

This multiple-site study assessed 48 prevention programs for high-risk youth funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, identifying program characteristics associated with strong substance abuse prevention outcomes. Data analysis indicated that substance abuse programs reduced rates of substance use, and the positive effects of program participation continued for at least 18 months after the program ended. Youth already using cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana significantly reduced their use of substances after joining a prevention program. Gender played an important role in risk, protection, and substance abuse. Despite gender differences, programs that used multiple science-based practices identified in the study produced stronger and longer lasting effects for both boys and girls. Family, peers, school, community, and society protected against substance abuse. Connection to those five interwoven domains clearly played an important role in effective prevention efforts. Science-based program components produced consistent and lasting reductions in substance use. Communities with more opportunities for participation in prevention positively impacted substance use by youth. (Contains 11 references and 14 figures.) (SM)

This document summarizes findings from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's National Cross-Site Evaluation of High-Risk Youth Programs, which identified characteristics associated with strong substance abuse prevention outcomes in 48 prevention programs. Results indicate that overall, boys and girls respond to prevention differently. Boys experience significant reduction in substance use rates relative to comparison youth in the short run. Benefits for girls emerge later and endure throughout time. Well-designed and implemented prevention programs using multiple science-based components produce positive and lasting reductions in rates of substance use for both high-risk girls and boys relative to comparison youth. However, programs that emphasize behavioral life skills topics are particularly important for girls. Interactive delivery methods are particularly important for boys. Programs for girls only are no more effective in reducing substance use rates for girls than mixed-gender programs. Girls report more family supervision than boys, which may reduce opportunities to use substances. Use by adolescent boys is more strongly related to neighborhood and social environments that may increase the opportunity to use. Connectedness to family and to school are important protective factors for both sexes. (Contains 25 references and 19 figures.) (SM)

This document summarizes findings from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's National Cross-Site Evaluation of High-Risk Youth Programs, which identified characteristics associated with strong substance abuse prevention outcomes in 48 prevention programs. Major findings include: as youth age, levels of risk and protection shift considerably, with a steady movement from the protective to the risk conditions in most external and internal factors; gender plays an important role in risk, protection, and substance use (e.g., neighborhood conditions have a greater influence on substance abuse among males than females); connectedness protects against substance use (connectedness to family and school form the core of this protection); the peer environment is critically linked to substance use (youth whose peers do not use substance or whose peers disapprove of substance use report less use themselves); and broadening the range of protective influences in the external environments increases protection against substance use. (Contains 24 references and 15 figures.) (SM)

This report examines risk and protective factors associated with adolescent tobacco involvement. Of interest are family contexts, peers, and individual covariates. Participants were 399 youth, parents, and a close-in-age sibling. Of the youth, 150 initiated use early (7th, 8th, or 9th grade), 82 later (10th or 11th grade), and 167 abstained. Employing Cox's Proportional Hazard Models, youth at greater risk for tobacco involvement were characterized by male gender, higher deviant values, lower school performance, and friends and/or siblings who use tobacco. Results for early users are fairly consistent with the complete sample. For youth who begin in late adolescence, sibling and peer tobacco use are not significant covariates, whereas risk factors include low conventional values. Results are consistent with earlier discriminant function analyses that identified school performance and friends who are users as predictors of involvement, and extend that research by separately examining covariates of tobacco use during early and late adolescence and by examining risk factors associated with friends who are users. Identification of similar and distinct factors for early and late initiators highlights the need for specific strategies for prevention. (EMK)

Recent research has identified several long-term negative life outcomes associated with teenage childbearing for parents and their children. To better understand teen births, data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 were used to examine factors associated with a second teen birth or a closely spaced second teen birth within 24 months. Results of this study are reported here. Out of a sample of 589 teen mothers, 34.5% had a second birth at any point in their teens, and among a sub-sample of young teen mothers (n=475, under age 18 at first birth), 27.6% had a closely spaced second teen birth. Factors associated with postponing a second teen birth included characteristics measured prior to the first birth (race/ethnicity and school type), at the time of the first birth (age at first birth, dropout status and marital status), and after the first birth (living situation, child care support, and educational and employment status). Among the full sample, younger teens were more likely to have a second birth at any point. Teen mothers who were involved in educational activities or (among older mothers) employment activities, even part-time, were more likely to postpone a second teen birth. (RJM)

The long-term goal of Project SAVE (Stop Alcohol Violations Early) is to reduce underage drinking. When a major revision of the program was initiated, the pilot program was evaluated for statistically measurable changes against short-term goals. The results of that evaluation are presented here. Four elements were included in the evaluation design: (1) a randomized experimental-control design with presurvey-postsurveys; (2) post-program evaluations by participants; (3) focus groups with selected participants; and (4) classroom observations by teachers and other school personnel, drug prevention professionals, evaluators, and other Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) agents. The results indicate that Project SAVE has a significant impact on participants with regard to critical factors related to alcohol use. The largest changes observed were in students' ability and motivation to resist alcohol. Students' knowledge of legal and physical consequences of alcohol use, as well as students' values, norms, and perceptions of the dangers of alcohol, were also improved. Students gave high ratings to the agents presenting the material and to the curriculum. Comments from student focus groups substantiated their ratings and provided feedback to project development. School personnel and drug prevention specialists expressed a high regard for the program. Recommendations for modifications and long-term evaluation are included. (Contains 11 references.) (EMK)

Self-regulation is a major developmental accomplishment that begins in infancy and continues throughout childhood. This study focused on early socialization of self-regulation, and examined whether there was a common core of self-regulation in young children cutting across contexts and age, and whether the same maternal behaviors operate similarly to support the growth of self-regulation across different aspects of self-regulation and over age. Participating in the study were 96 children assessed at 15, 24, and 36 months of age in several laboratory situations, including structured and unstructured interactions with their mothers. Various aspects of mothers' and children's behavior corresponding to different aspects of emerging self-regulation were coded, emotion regulation at 15 months, resistance to temptation at 24 months, persistence and mastery behavior at 36 months. The findings indicated that there were no relations among 15-month behavioral and affective responses to frustration, 24-month resistance to temptation latency or strategies, and 36-month persistence and affective responses to difficult tasks, suggesting little coherence in specific features of self-regulation during the toddler years. However, there were several correspondences in maternal behavior over tasks and ages, suggesting some continuity in mothers' socializing strategies relevant to self-regulation across several interaction contexts and ages. Using a general Self-Regulation score for children and four general parenting dimension scores for mothers (Controlling/High Structure, Negative/Intrusive, Supportive Structure/Gentle Guidance, and Warm/Positive), no relations were found across ages and settings in children's propensity to self-regulate. The overall self-regulation score was related to the affective, but not the controlling, structuring, and guiding, features of parenting. (KB)

This study examined relations between internalization of conduct rules and the temperamental quality of inhibitory control in 103 children followed from toddlerhood to early school age; and used recent methodological suggestions to obtain better estimates of stability to examine longitudinal continuity of internalization. Maternal reports of children's inhibitory control were collected at ages 2.5, 4, and 6 years using the Child Behavior Questionnaire. Children's internalization was observed at ages 4, 5, and 6 years in 3-minute videotaped game-playing situations that provided the children an opportunity to violate (cheating at a game) or comply with rules while unsupervised. An overall internalization composite score for each time of assessment was comprised of three composite scores: (1) mean latency to transgress; (2) mean extent of transgression; and (3) mean extent of rule-compatible behavior. Results indicated that inhibitory control at age 2.5 predicted internalization when children were 4 years old, but not when they were 5 and 6 years old. Inhibitory control, however, was associated with internalization concurrently at ages 4 and 6 years. Internalization was modestly stable across times of assessment. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/KB)

This study explored the inter-relationships and developmental stability of inhibitory motor control, attentional control, delay of gratification, and resistance to temptation with 32 preschool children, and related these components of self-regulation to children's behavior at home and in the classroom. The children completed the T.O.V.A. (Greenberg & Waldman, 1993), the Cookie Delay Task (Campbell et al., 1982), the Draw-a-Line Slowly task (Maccoby et al., 1965), and a Resistance to Temptation task (Campbell et al., 1994). Parents and teachers reported on children's social skills and behavior problems, and naturalistic observations of children's behavior in the preschool classroom were conducted. The self-regulation measures showed high validity in terms of their relation with children's behavior at school, poor to modest cross-measure correlations, and modest to moderate temporal stability. In general, children who had greater self-regulation had fewer behavior problems at school, demonstrated better social skills, had more positive and frequent peer interactions at school, and engaged more often in on-task classroom activities. Laboratory measures were more strongly related to children's classroom behavior than behavior at home and most relations observed strengthened with age. (Author/JPB)

According to a recent national survey, 9 out of 10 high school students in the United States reported that they had tried alcohol at least once. Previous research has identified drug resistance self-efficacy (DRSE) as an important construct in adolescent drug use, which is the focus of this research study. A total of 361 students in grades 9-12 completed a 121-item questionnaire which focused on their use of beer, wine coolers, liquor, and marijuana. Results indicate that adolescents' perception of their ability to resist generalizes across situations, particularly for wine coolers and liquor. As perceptions of resistance in one situation increased, perceptions of resistance in another situation also increased. However, differences were observed in the magnitude of the relationship for certain drugs, specifically beer, wine coolers, and marijuana. Analysis of results show strong intercorrelations for each drug studied among the DRSE situations. Party DRSE was the strongest predictor of DRSE in a solitary context. Different predictive models, though, were found for the high frequency beer and marijuana users with respect to DRSE in solitary/angry situations. (RJM)

Adolescent health is influenced not only by the strengths and vulnerabilities of individual adolescents, but also by the character of the settings in which they lead their lives. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) is the first national study of adolescent health designed to measure the social settings of adolescent lives, the way in which adolescents connect their social world, and the influence of these social settings and connections on health. Summaries of the first analysis of the Add Health data are presented here. The report focuses on health and behavior, family connections, school connections, and individual characteristics, with an emphasis on those things that protect young people from harm. Specific issues covered include emotional distress, suicidal thoughts and attempts, violence perpetration, cigarette use, alcohol use, marijuana use, early sexual involvement, and pregnancy. By most measures, teenagers across the country are doing well. However, some teens are at risk, and as they get older, students report higher levels of distress than do students in grades 7 and 8. Girls report one-third more emotional distress than boys. Nevertheless, when teenagers felt connected to their families and when parents were involved in their children's lives, teens were protected from many difficulties. (RJM)

DARE is a preventive drug education program intended to combat drug use by students before it commences. The elementary school program is the core curriculum of DARE. It is designed to help those enrolled to develop skills that will allow them to resist the pressures to use substances such as illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Students are taught about their rights; the right to say "no" to drugs is a central theme in the curriculum. Training focuses on the consequences, both favorable and unfavorable, of one's decision making. As with this evaluation, most of the research to date on the program has focused on the relative effectiveness of DARE in reducing drug use by students. The following research question is addressed: Do drug prevention education programs reduce the level of drug use by students significantly? Public and parochial students in the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, are utilized in order to test the question empirically. The survey examined student drug use as well as the attitudes they hold about substance use. Student satisfaction with the DARE program was extremely high: 83.6 percent rated it as excellent or good, and only 5 percent felt it was poor or terrible. Three appendices consist of the survey instrument and the survey results (pooled analysis and by school system) respectively. Contains 37 references. (Author/BF)

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) is a preventive drug education program intended to stop drug use before it begins. DARE teaches techniques aimed at resisting peer pressure and helps children and adolescents refuse to use drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. DARE instructors are trained law enforcement officers on full-time duty with the project. DARE officers are assigned up to five schools per semester, and each officer visits each school at least one day per week to present curriculum units that emphasize self-esteem, taking responsibility, and saying "no" to drugs. The officers conduct assembly programs and visits to classrooms; hold training sessions on drug use for teachers; and conduct meetings that instruct parents on the objectives and content of the curriculum. This document presents the training manual to be used in training officers to become part of the DARE program. The manual was written to help mentors/trainers in the regional training centers throughout the United States prepare law enforcement officers who have been selected to present the DARE curriculum in schools. Objectives, agendas, and activities for each of the 10-day training sessions are outlined in the manual. For each day, a list of objectives is provided and an agenda to follow is given. Activities are described for each session; the objective, time frame, materials needed, and procedure for each activity are explained. (NB)

Used meta analysis to test predictions from psychoanalytic, parental investment, and differential socialization theories regarding gender differences in ability to resist temptation. Found that although females showed more restraint than males with a very small effect size, there were appreciable differences on forbidden-object tasks and very small differences on two cheating tasks. None of the theories could account for task differences. Explored evolutionary-based explanations for gender differences by task. (Author/KB)

Studies reveal that students need strategies, not just information, to protect themselves from AIDS. However, few school offer appropriate education on safer sex strategies for sexually active students. The paper discusses the necessary components of an effective sex education program within the school and the community. (SM)

Reviews the literature on refusal and resistance skill (RRS) training. Evaluates RRS training across different target behaviors and outcomes and its efficacy in preventing tobacco use. Identifies factors that influence RRS training and discusses process variables. These include age and gender, media formats, and teacher-led versus peer-led approaches. (RJM)

Outlines a curriculum designed to teach self-control skills to children. Presents ideas for impulse control, following school routines, managing group situations, managing stress, and solving social problems. Gives a detailed process for teaching a self-control skill and emphasizes the importance of practical experience. (RJM)

Assigned 1,426 university students to four intervention groups. A "norm-setting" intervention program--used to study perceptions and expectations of drinking--was of chief interest. This group was associated with the greatest reductions in the drinking norms attributed to the student body, close friends, living groups, and parents. (RJM)

Randomly assigned outpatients to one of three treatments: brief broad-spectrum (BBS), extended relationship enhancement (ERE), or extended cognitive-behavioral (ECB). Results suggest that the intensity of focus on relationship enhancement should be calibrated to the anticipated difficulty in dealing with problems in the patient's relationship to significant others. (RJM)

This study examined cross-sectional correlates of smoking during early and late adolescence to compare patterns of prediction of smoking at both stages. Intention to smoke was the strongest predictor of smoking during both stages, particularly in late adolescence, as well as being the strongest predictor of changes in smoking. (SM)