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Verifying drug abuse prevention program effects using reciprocal best friend reports.
S I Donaldson1, C W Thomas, J W Graham
1Department of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University, 123 East 8th Street, Claremont, California 91711, USA. Stewart.Donaldson@cgu.edu
Journal of Behavioral Medicine
|February 24, 2001
Summary
Normative education, a key part of social influences drug abuse prevention, effectively delays alcohol and cigarette use onset in adolescents. This strategy proves effective even when accounting for self-report bias in public school settings.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Adolescent Psychology
- Substance Abuse Prevention
Background:
- Social influences-based programs are effective for drug abuse prevention.
- A common limitation is reliance on self-reported substance use data.
- Normative education is a key component of social influences programs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of normative education on adolescent alcohol and cigarette consumption.
- To assess the validity of normative education's effects using both self-reports and best friend reports.
- To determine if self-report bias undermines previous findings on normative education.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data from 11,995 students in the Adolescent Alcohol Prevention Trial.
- Utilized self-reported and reciprocal best friend reports of substance use.
- Examined effects across eighth, ninth, and tenth grades in public school settings.
Main Results:
- Normative education significantly delayed the onset of alcohol use.
- A similar, though less pronounced, effect was observed for cigarette use.
- Findings were consistent across self-report and best friend report measures.
Conclusions:
- Normative education is a validated and effective strategy for adolescent drug abuse prevention in schools.
- The effectiveness of normative education is not solely attributable to self-report bias.
- This study provides strong evidence for implementing normative education in public school settings.