Process and Outcome Evaluation of a Drug Education Course

Abstract

A drug education course was taught to seventh and eighth graders and evaluated in a true experiment. Students learned 1) Lasswell's framework for understanding human motives, 2) systematic decision-making procedures, and 3) information about licit and illicit drug use. The course focused primarily on “gateway” drugs—tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. The evaluation involved random assignment from nine matched pairs of social studies classes to experimental and control conditions. Pre- and posttests covered 1) drug knowledge, 2) general attitudes toward drugs, 3) perceived benefits and costs of substance use, 4) perceived peer attitudes toward, and use of, various substances, 5) intentions to use, current use, and lifetime use of various substances.

Class-level univariate analyses of variance and covariance showed that the course produced predicted effects for grade 7 females, but not for grade 7 males or grade 8 males or females. For grade 7 females, the course increased drug knowledge, decreased perceptions of favorable peer attitudes toward soft drug use, and decreased personal involvement in alcohol and marijuana use. Few significant effects were obtained for the other three subgroups.