A family-based substance abuse prevention program was evaluated which emphasizes family cohesion, school and peer attachment, self-esteem, and attitudes about adolescent use of alcohol and tobacco. The program was implemented in rural communities and targeted families with students entering middle or junior high school. Baseline surveys were conducted with students and parents in four schools and were readministered one year later. Because the program was voluntary, a quasi-experimental design was used to compare participants (29 students and 28 parents) and nonparticipants (268 students and 134 parents). Analyses of covariance indicated that student participants, as compared to nonparticipants, had higher family cohesion, less family fighting, greater school attachment, higher self-esteem, and believed that alcohol should be consumed at an older age at the one year follow-up. There were fewer significant results for parent participants. Strategies for involving parents in prevention programs are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BotvinG. B.BakerE.DusenburyL.BotvinE. M.DiazT., Long-term Follow-up Results of a Randomized Drug Abuse Prevention Trial in a White Middle-Class Population, Journal of the American Medical Association, 373, pp. 1106–1112, 1995.
2.
DonaldsonS. I.GrahamJ. W.PiccininA. M.HansenW. B., Resistance-Skills Training and Onset of Alcohol Use: Evidence for Beneficial and Potentially Harmful Effects in Public Schools and in Private Catholic Schools, Health Psychology, 14, pp. 291–300, 1995.
3.
EllicksonP. L.BellR. M., Drug Prevention in Junior High: A Multi-Site Longitudinal Test, Science, 247, pp. 1299–1305, 1990.
4.
EnnettS. T.RosenbaumD. P.FlewellingR. L.BielerG. S.RingwaltC. L.BaileyS. L., Long-Term Evaluation of Drug Abuse Resistance Education, Addictive Behavior, 19, pp. 113–125, 1994.
5.
EnnettS. T.ToblerN. S.RingwaltC. L.FlewellingR. L., How Effective is Drug Abuse Resistance Education? A Meta-Analysis of Project DARE Outcome Evaluations, American Journal of Public Health, 84, pp. 1394–1401, 1994.
6.
ShopeJ. T.KloskaD. D.DielmanT. E.MahargR., Longitudinal Evaluation of an Enhanced Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study (AAMPS) Curriculum for Grades Six-Eight, Journal of School Health, 64, pp. 160–166, 1994.
7.
MacKinnonD. P.JohnsonC. A.PentzM. A.DwyerJ. H.HansenW. B.FlayB. R.WangE. Y. I., Mediating Mechanisms in a School-Based Drug Prevention Program, Health Psychology, 10, pp. 164–172, 1991.
8.
HomonoffE.MartinJ.RimpasD.HendersonM., It Takes a Village to Raise a Child: A Model of Training for Prevention of Youth Abuse of Alcohol and Other Drugs, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 11, pp. 53–61, 1994.
9.
PerryC. L.WilliamsC. L.Veblen-MortensonS.ToomeyT. L.KomroK. A.AnstineP. S.McGovernP. G.FinneganJ. R.ForsterJ. L.WagenaarA. C.WolfsonA. C.WolfsonM., Project Northland: Outcomes of a Community-Wide Alcohol Use Prevention Program During Early Adolescence, American Journal of Public Health, 86, pp. 956–965, 1996.
10.
HawkinsJ. D.CatalanoR. F.MillerJ. Y., Risk and Protective Factors for Alcohol and Other Drug Problems in Adolescence and Early Adulthood: Implications for Substance Abuse Prevention, Psychological Bulletin, 112, pp. 64–105, 1992.
11.
HawkinsJ. D.LamT., Teacher Practices, Social Development, and Delinquency, Sage, Newbury Park, California, 1987.
12.
HawkinsJ. D.CatalanoR. F.JonesG.FineD., Delinquency Prevention through Parent Training: Results and Issues from Work in Progress, From Children to Citizens, Volume III, Families, Schools, and Delinquency Prevention, WilsonJ. Q.LouryG. C. (eds.), Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 186–204, 1987.
13.
BiglanA.DuncanT. E.AryD. V.SmolkowskiK., Peer and Parental Influences on Adolescent Tobacco Use, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 18, pp. 315–330, 1995.
14.
BahrS. J.MarcosA. C.MaughanS. L., Family, Educational and Peer Influences on the Alcohol Use of Female and Male Adolescents, Journals of Studies on Alcohol, 56, pp. 457–469, 1995.
15.
ChilcoatH. D.DishionT. J.AnthonyJ. C., Parent Monitoring and the Incidence of Drug Sampling in Urban Elementary School Children, American Journal of Epidemiology, 141, pp. 25–31, 1995.
16.
CohenD. A.RiceJ. C., A Parent-Targeted Intervention for Adolescent Substance Use Prevention: Lessons Learned, Evaluation Review, 19, pp. 159–180, 1995.
17.
DolciniM. M.AdlerN. E., Perceived Competencies, Peer Group Affiliation, and Risk Behavior among Early Adolescents, Health Psychology, 13, pp. 496–506, 1994.
18.
HopkinsR. H.MaussA. L.KearneyK. A.WeisheitR. A., Comprehensive Evaluation of a Model Alcohol Education Curriculum, Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 49, pp. 38–50, 1988.
19.
JessorR.JessorS. L., Theory Testing on Longitudinal Research on Marijuana Use, in Longitudinal Research on Drug Use: Empirical Findings and Methodological Issues, KandelD. B. (ed.), Wiley, New York, pp. 41–71, 1978.
20.
SimonT. R.SussmanS.DentC. W.BurtonD.FlayB. R., Prospective Correlates of Exclusive or Combined Adolescent Use of Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: A Replication-Extension, Addictive Behaviors, 20, pp. 517–524, 1995.
PilgrimC.AbbeyA.HendricksonP.LorenzS., Implementation and Impact of a Family-Based Substance Abuse Prevention Program in Rural Communities, Journal of Primary Prevention, pp. 341–361, 1998.
23.
PopkinM., Active Parenting of Teens, Active Parenting Inc., Marietta, Georgia, 1990.
24.
BotvinG. J.BakerE.DusenburyL.TortuS.BotvinE. M., Preventing Adolescent Drug Abuse through a Multimodal Cognitive-Behavioral Approach: Results of a Three-Year Study, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, pp. 484–490, 1990.
25.
EllicksonP. L.HaysR. D., On Becoming Involved with Drugs: Modeling Adolescent Drug Use Over Time, Health Psychology, 11, pp. 377–385, 1992.
26.
MoosR., Family Environment Scale–Form R (2nd Edition), Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, California, 1986.
27.
GottfredsonG., The Effective School Battery, Psychological Assessment Resources Incorporated, Odessa, Florida, 1984.
28.
ArmsdenG. C.GreenbergM. T., The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment: Individual Differences and Their Psychological Well-Being in Adolescents, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16, pp. 427–454, 1987.
29.
PiersE. V., Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale Revised Manual, Western Psychological Services, Los Angeles, 1984.
30.
DielmanT. E.ShopeJ. T.LeechS. L.ButchartA. T., Differential Effectiveness of an Elementary School-Based Alcohol Misuse Prevention Program, Journal of School Health, 59, pp. 255–263, 1989.
31.
JohnstonL. D.O'MalleyP. M.BachmanJ. G., National Survey Results on Drug Use from Monitoring the Future Study, 1975–1992, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, Maryland, 1993.
32.
IOX Assessment Associates, Program Evaluation Handbook: Drug Abuse Education, Los Angeles, 1988.
33.
AbbeyA.OlianskyD.StilianosK.HohlsteinL. A.KaczynskiR., Substance Abuse Prevention for Second Graders: Are They Too Young to Benefit?Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 11, pp. 149–162, 1990.
34.
DillmanD. A., Mail and Telephone Surveys, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1978.
35.
CookT. D.CampbellD. T., Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings, Rand McNally, Chicago, 1979.
