Long-Term Impact of a District-Wide School/Community-Based Substance Abuse Prevention Initiative on Gateway Drug Use

This study examined long-term effects of a school/family/community substance abuse prevention partnership intervention lead by a Midwestern school district. Previous findings suggested that the program contributed to decreased tobacco and marijuana, but not alcohol, use prior to and after implementation between 1987 and 1991. The current study examined 8th-12th grade student drug use prevalence data from 1991 and 2003 to determine whether previous program effects were sustained. With one exception, reported lifetime and monthly cigarette use decreased below 1991 levels for all grades. Lifetime and monthly alcohol use decreased below 1991 levels for most grades, a result not previously detected. While still below national rates, reported lifetime use of marijuana increased for all grades over time. The intervention was effective in reducing cigarette and alcohol use over time and in suppressing marijuana use levels below national rates; however, these gains tended to erode in later high school grades.

Download Full-text

opportunities. Yet, statistics suggest that adolescent girls have ironi-cally found a way of achieving parity with their male counterparts. It is through their entry to the use and abuse of chemicals. It could be stated that drugs have become an artificial means of achieving em-powerment. • Since 1991, there is little difference in the rate of alcohol and il-licit drug use among eighth grade girls and boys. For some drugs, eighth grade girls have even higher rates of usage (e.g., inhalants and stimulants. (1995 Monitoring the Future Survey) (MTFS). • Heavy drinking has increased significantly among young, employed women over the last 40 years in the United States. As many as 16% of these women may be consuming three to five drinks per day (CASA, 1996; US Dept. of Health & Human Ser-vices, Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1991). • In 1995, nearly one-tenth of eighth grade girls were current smokers, the same rate for eighth grade boys (CASA, 1995). • Young women between the ages of 16 and 22 are more likely to smoke cigarettes than their male counterparts (US Dept. of Health & Human Services, Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1991). • From 1991 to 1995, the rate of past-month marijuana use among eighth grade girls has risen slightly faster than the rate among boys during the same period, (MTFS, 1995). • Today's daughters are 15 times likelier than their mothers to be-gin using illegal drugs by the age of 15 (CASA, 1996, p. 2). The rise in the statistics for females is compelling in relation to the prevention dollars that have been spent in the last 20 years. Drug Use as a Metaphor of Independence and Dependence However, to view use of a substance as a solution to a problem casts a different shadow upon our understanding of the motivating forces to use and abuse chemicals in our society. This in turn presents a whole new interpretation of risk and prevention. In a profound twist, sub-stance abuse can be seen as a symptom that is "socially useful" or functional in our society. The symptom is a metaphorical expression of and response to cultural ailments. Addiction is an attempt at its remedy (Barrett, 1992). It can be best understood as an adaptation to one's environment (Peele, 1989), albeit a poor one. In this framework,

Family Systems/Family Therapy ◽

10.4324/9780203725184-7 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 45-60

Keyword(s):

Substance Abuse ◽

Drug Use ◽

Substance Abuse Prevention ◽

Heavy Drinking ◽

The United States ◽

Eighth Grade ◽

Abuse Prevention ◽

Monitoring The Future ◽

New Interpretation ◽

Metaphorical Expression

Download Full-text

Substance Abuse Prevention for High-Risk Youth: Exploring Culture and Alcohol and Drug Use

Latinos and Alcohol Use/Abuse Revisited ◽

10.4324/9780203051368-10 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 165-184

Author(s):

Lori K. Holleran ◽

Margaret A. Taylor-Seehafer ◽

Elizabeth C. Pomeroy ◽

James Alan Neff

Keyword(s):

Substance Abuse ◽

High Risk ◽

Drug Use ◽

Substance Abuse Prevention ◽

Abuse Prevention ◽

Alcohol And Drug Use ◽

High Risk Youth

Download Full-text

Twelfth Grade Follow-up of the Effectiveness of a Middle School-Based Substance Abuse Prevention Program

Journal of Drug Education ◽

10.2190/ptv0-lrr9-8xgu-g120 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 185-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Jean T. Shope ◽

Laurel A. Copeland ◽

Mary E. Kamp ◽

Sylvia W. Lang

Keyword(s):

Substance Abuse ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

School Health ◽

Substance Abuse Prevention ◽

Sixth Grade ◽

Abuse Prevention ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Effective Prevention ◽

Twelfth Grade

A twelfth-grade follow-up afforded the opportunity to assess the long-term effects of substance abuse prevention delivered in sixth and seventh grades. A social pressures resistance skills curriculum implemented by classroom teachers had been evaluated with short-term positive results previously reported. Students completed self-administered questionnaires at sixth grade pre- and posttests, and at seventh and twelfth-grade posttests. Curriculum group students received lessons on alcohol, tobacco (cigarettes and smokeless), marijuana, and cocaine, which were later incorporated into the Michigan Model for Comprehensive School Health Education. This evaluation used data from 262 students who completed all four questionnaires and who received the complete two-year intervention or no intervention. Repeated measures analyses of variance demonstrated that significant effects evident at seventh grade for alcohol use and misuse, as well as cigarette, cocaine, and other drug use were generally not maintained through twelfth grade. Ongoing reinforcement of effective prevention is recommended.

Download Full-text