Single vs. multiple drug prevention: is more always better?: a pilot study
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Quadruple-Checkerboard: A Modification of the Three-Dimensional Checkerboard for Studying Drug Combinations
Published on: July 24, 2021
Chudley E Chad Werch1, Michele M Moore, Carlo C Diclemente
1Addictive and Health Behaviors Research Institute, University of Florida, 6852 Belfort Oaks Place, Jacksonville, FL 32216, USA. cwerch@hhp.ufl.edu
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a single drug, i.e., alcohol, against a multiple drug preventive intervention.
Methods:
A controlled trial was conducted with 448 8th grade students (mean age = 13 years old) from an inner-city middle school (n = 216) and a rural junior high school (n = 232) in 2000-2001. Students were randomized within school, and 3-month post-intervention follow-up data were collected.
Results:
Two risk/protective factors were found to differ significantly in favor of youth receiving the single drug alcohol intervention (p's = 0.03), while the frequency of alcohol use and two additional risk/protective factors approached significance (p's < 0.10).
Conclusion:
These findings support the potential efficacy of a brief, single drug preventive intervention over a brief, multi-drug intervention in producing short-term alcohol outcomes for adolescents, and indicate differential effects of interventions for subgroups of substance using youth.
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