Effectiveness of a high school alcohol misuse prevention program

An alcohol misuse prevention curriculum for tenth-grade students was developed, implemented, and evaluated through twelfth grade with 1041 students from four school districts. The curriculum emphasized social pressures resistance training, immediate effects of alcohol, risks of alcohol misuse, and social pressures to misuse alcohol. There were desirable program effects on alcohol misuse prevention knowledge (p < 0.001), alcohol misuse (p < 0.02), and refusal skills (p < 0.09). Gender by occasion differences were found on alcohol use, alcohol misuse, and driving after drinking, with boys' rates increasing more than those of girls. Exposure to a sixth-grade, as well as the tenth-grade, program did not result in better outcomes. Despite high levels of alcohol use among high school students, a tenth-grade curriculum can result in some desirable effects. Creative approaches are needed, however, especially for boys who tend to use and misuse alcohol at rates that increase more steeply than those of girls.