1 / 11

Ruth Campbell, LCSW Fordham University GSSS

Factors Associated with Frequency of Teen Alcohol Use in 2005: Another Look at School-Based Substance Abuse Prevention. Ruth Campbell, LCSW Fordham University GSSS. Alcohol Use and Teens: Facts. Number one drug problem for youth who suffer ‘life or death’ consequences of alcohol use

gzifa
Download Presentation

Ruth Campbell, LCSW Fordham University GSSS

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Factors Associated with Frequency of Teen Alcohol Use in 2005: Another Look at School-Based Substance Abuse Prevention Ruth Campbell, LCSW Fordham University GSSS

  2. Alcohol Use and Teens: Facts • Number one drug problem for youth who suffer ‘life or death’ consequences of alcohol use • 47% of high-school seniors currently drinking in 20051 • 19% high-school students binge drinking2 • >8% beginning drivers reported drinking and driving in the past year2 • 1Johnston et al, 2006 • 2SAMHSA, 2006

  3. School-Based Prevention Programs: History • Hypothesis: youth are more receptive to anti-alcohol/drug messages before they begin using @ age 15 • First prevention programs in 60’s based on knowledge acquisition3 • First programs were regarded as successful, knowledge was measured outcome • First prevention program evaluations used no outcome measures of drug use3 • 3Durlak, ‘95

  4. Research Influences on Prevention • Empirical Studies: Refusal Skills, Life Skills4 • Meta-Analyses: Outcome Measures, Delivery Method, Rigor5 • Longitudinal Studies: Protective Factors6, 7 • Descriptive Studies: Finger on the Pulse 1, 2 • DARE evaluations: no significant drug use change 8, 9 • 4Botvin, ’88, ’00 • 5Tobler, ’86, ‘97 • 6Werner, ’05; Olds, ’98 • 1Johnston, et al., ’06; 2 SAMHSA, ’06 • 8Ringwalt, ‘94; 9Perry, ‘03

  5. Why This Study? • Results from analysis of 2005 NSDUH data10 demonstrated significance of the relationship of exposure to prevention messages with youth alcohol use (!) – simple prevalence calculation • A more complex multivariable model, after controlling for demographic and contextual variables, might show a relationship between prevention and alcohol use that would be consistent with findings of research concerning DARE • 10SAMHSA, ’06b

  6. Hypotheses • Hypothesis 1: Degree of disapproval toward alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs is inversely correlated with frequency of alcohol usage. • Hypothesis 2: The number of friends who use alcohol, tobacco and other drugs is positively correlated with frequency of alcohol usage. • Hypothesis 3: Exposure to drug and alcohol prevention messages in school is inversely related to the frequency of alcohol usage. • Hypothesis 4: Greater degree of school engagement is inversely correlated with frequency of alcohol usage. • Demographics of age, gender, ethnicity and contextual factors of having received treatment for problems not related to drugs/alcohol and school attendance were controlled as covariates

  7. PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS Degree of disapproval of alcohol/drug use by teen (scale indicator) Number of friends using alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs (scale indicator) Exposure to prevention messagesin school (= 1) compared to no exposure Degree of school engagement (scale indicator) *** p < .001 FINAL MODEL B (SE) ***-1.99 .06 *** 1.88 .14 ***-1.92 .66 ***-.51 .12 Table 2. Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis of Factors Related to Frequency of Alcohol Use by Teens (N=18678)

  8. Results • Exposure to prevention messages in school and psychosocial factors explained 14% of the variance in frequency of alcohol use by teens • Addition of significant demographic and contextual factors increased explanation of variance only marginally, to 15% • Contradicts research concerning (non)-efficacy of prevention efforts

  9. Implications for Practice • Inclusion of drug/alcohol use outcome measures in prevention programs would help gauge true effectiveness • The results of this study support the idea that school-based exposure to prevention messages is related to decreased frequency of alcohol use by teens • Specifically, factors which affect teen attitudes toward alcohol/drug use, degree of school engagement, and peer influence hold promise for prevention

  10. Implications for Research • Outcome evaluation using modeling yields more insight into complex relationships • Effectiveness of prevention efforts could be enhanced • Target dynamic/malleable factors • Incorporate research-based questions into surveys

More Related