Two self-report techniques assessed student behaviors before and after a life-skills substance abuse prevention program, targeted at seventh graders in an inner-city elementary school. The retrospective pretest/posttest technique demonstrated no significant changes in drug usage, while a traditional pretest/posttest indicated significant increases in tobacco usage. The findings of this study support the continued use and research on the retrospective pretest, particularly as they relate to tobacco usage. Given participants' inhibitions to self-report deviance, inclusion of this technique can provide a more complete assessment of prevention programs.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
DurlakJ. A.JasonL. A.Horton-WalkerE., Prevention Programs for School-Age Children and Adolescents, in Prevention of Problems in Childhood: Psychological Research and Applications, RobertsM. C.PetersonL. (eds.), Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, 1984.
2.
BotvinG. L.BakerE.RenickN. L.FilazzolaA. D.BotvinE. M., A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach to Substance Abuse Prevention, Addictive Behaviors, 9, pp. 135–147, 1984.
3.
SchinkeS. P.GilchristL. D., Preventing Substance Abuse with Children and Adolescents, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, in press.
4.
GlobettiG., Attitudes of Students Toward Alcohol Education, Journal of School Health, 40, pp. 221–232, 1979.
5.
MoskowitzJ. M.MalvinJ. H.SchafferG. A.SchapsE., An Experimental Evaluation of a Drug Education Course, Journal of Drug Education, 14, pp. 9–22, 1984.
6.
CookT.CampbellD., The Design and Conduct of Quasi Experiments and True Design Experiments in Field Settings, in Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, DunnetteM. (ed.), Rand McNally, Chicago, IL, 1976.
7.
PechacekT.MurrayD. M.LuepkerR. V.MittlemarkC.JohnsonJ.SchutzJ. M., Measurement of Adolescent Smoking Behavior: Rationale and Methods, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 7, pp. 123–138, 1984.
8.
FrederiksenL. W.MartinJ. E., Carbon Monoxide and Smoking Behavior, Addiction, 4, pp. 21–30, 1979.
9.
HaleyN. J.AxelrodC. M.TiltonK. A., Validation of Self-Reported Smoking Behavior: Biochemical Analysis of Cotinine and Thiocyonate, American Journal of Public Health, 73:10, pp. 1204–1207, 1983.
10.
BittikoferJ. A.BentonB., Rapid Drug Screening in the Hospital Clinical Laboratory, Duke University Medical Center Publication, Durham, NC, 1984.
11.
JonesE. E.SegalH., The Bogus Pipeline: A New Paradigm for Measuring Affect and Attitude, Psychological Bulletin, 76, pp. 349–364, 1971.
12.
EvansR.HansenW. B.MittlemarkM. B., Increasing the Validity of Self-Reports of Smoking Behavior in Children, Journal of Applied Psychology, 62, pp. 521–523, 1977.
13.
MalvinJ. H.MoskowitzJ. M., Anonymous vs. Identifiable Self-Reports of Adolescent Drug Attitudes: Intentions and Use, Public Opinion Quarterly, 47, pp. 556–566, 1983.
14.
OlsonT. L., unpublished Masters thesis, Department of Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, 1985.
15.
CronbachI.FurbyL., How Should We Measure Change, or Should We?, Psychological Bulletin, 74, pp. 58–80, 1970.
16.
CasswellS., The Effect of Pretesting on Evaluation of Drug Education Programs, Journal of Drug Education, 12, pp. 173–179, 1982.
17.
SchlegalR. P., Some Methodological Procedures for the Evaluation of Educational Programs for Prevention of Adolescent Alcohol Use and Abuse, Evaluation Quarterly, 1, pp. 4–9, 1977.
18.
StuartR., Teaching Facts About Drugs: Pushing or Preventing?, Journal of Educational Psychology, 66:2, pp. 189–201, 1974.
19.
HowardG. S.RalphK.GulanickN. A.MaxwellS. E.NanceD.GerberS., Internal Invalidity in Pretest-Posttest Self-Report Evaluations and a Reevaluation of Retrospective Pretests, Applied Psychological Measurement, 16, pp. 129–135, 1979.
20.
HowardG. S.DaileyP. R., Response Shift Bias: A Source of Contamination of Self-Report Measures, Journal of Applied Psychology, 64, pp. 144–150, 1980.
21.
HowardG. S.SchmeckR. R.BrayJ. H., Internal Invalidity in Studies Employing Self-Report Instruments: A Suggested Remedy, Journal of Educational Measurement, 16:2, pp. 129–134, 1979.
22.
PohlN. F., Using Retrospective Pre-Ratings to Counter Response-Shift Bias Confounding, Journal of Experimental Education, 22, pp. 211–214, 1982.
23.
HowardG. S.DaileyP. R.GulanickN. A., The Feasibility of Informed Pretests in Attenuating Response-Shift Bias, Applied Psychological Measurement, 4, pp. 481–494, 1979.
24.
HowardG. S., Improving Methodology via Research on Research Methods, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 29, pp. 318–326, 1982.
25.
BrayJ. H.HowardG. S., Methodological Considerations in the Evaluation of a Teacher Training Program, Journal of Educational Psychology, 49, pp. 265–271, 1980.
26.
HowardG. S.MillhamJ.SlatenS.O'DonnellL., Influence of Subject Response Style Effects on Retrospective Measures, Journal of Applied Psychological Measurement, 5:1, pp. 89–100, 1981.
27.
SpivakG.PiattJ. J.ShureM. B., The Problem-Solving Approach to Adjustment, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1976.
28.
BeaulieuM., unpublished Masters thesis, Department of Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, 1986.
29.
PressS.AlverezJ.CotlerS.JasonL. A., Developing a Problem-Solving Program in an Elementary School Setting, Education, 104:3, pp. 281–286, 1984.
30.
SwisherJ. D.HoranJ. J., Pennsylvania State University Evaluation Scales, in Accountability in Drug Education: A Model for Accountability, AbramsL. A.GarfieldE. F.SwisherJ. D. (eds.), The Drug Abuse Council, Washington, D.C., 1973.
31.
ColeD. A.HowardG. S.MaxwellS. E., The Effects of Mono versus Multiple Operationalization in Construct Validation Efforts, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, pp. 395–405, 1981.
32.
HowardG. S.MaxwellS. E.WeinerR. L.BoytonK. S.RooneyW. M., Is a Behavioral Measure the Best Estimate of Behavioral Parameters? Perhaps Not, Applied Psychological Measurement, 4, pp. 293–311, 1980.
33.
HowardG. S.ConwayC. G.MaxwellS. E., Construct Validity of Measures of College Teaching Effectiveness, Journal of Educational Psychology, 77, pp. 187–196, 1985.
34.
HowardG. S., On Validity, Evaluation Review, 5, pp. 567–576, 1981.
35.
Chicago Fact Book Consortium, Local Community Fact Book: Chicago Metropolitan Area, Chicago Review Press, Chicago, IL, 1984.
