Adolescents' perceptions of substance abuse prevention strategies

As part of a 3-year evaluation of substance abuse prevention strategies (Harding, Safer, Kavanagh, Bania, Carty, Lisnov, & Wysockey, 1996), this study examined the perceptions of 719 sixth- through ninth-grade Chicago public school students. School-based programs were rated as significantly more effective on six prevention objectives than were television ads, testimonials by famous people, billboards, and print ads displayed on public transportation. Students perceived the two school-based programs, Project DARE (a national program conducted through local police departments) and Captain Clean (an intense live theater program coordinated with student participation), as being equally effective overall, although the interactive theater program was rated as significantly better at encouraging students to talk about their feelings concerning substance abuse issues and at relating to the students' ethnic/racial backgrounds. When students were categorized according to frequency of alcohol use, nonusers, infrequent users, and frequent users differed significantly in their ratings of the school-based programs.