Studies documenting the effectiveness of LST have been funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); the National Cancer Institute (NCI); the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI); and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
Botvin, G.J. & Griffin, K.W. (2012). Long-term outcomes from Blueprints model programs: Life Skills Training. Presented at 2012 Blueprints for Violence Prevention conference. San Antonio, TX, April 11-14, 2012.
The study tracked teens who participated in the Botvin LifeSkills Training (LST) program as 7th graders and found that their participation in the program produced long-lasting reduction in drug use 12 years later. The study assessed LST’s impact on young adults in their early to mid-20s who received the program when they were in the 7th grade. The results of the study found that participants were 23% less likely to have ever used illicit drugs than were individuals who did not receive the LST program. They were also 22% less likely to have used marijuana and 26% less likely to have engaged in non-medical pill use (such as amphetamines, barbiturates, and tranquilizers). Over 2,000 individuals participated in the follow up study; their average age at the 12-year follow-up was 24.
Griffin, K. W., Samuolis, J., & Williams, C. (2011). Efficacy of a self-administered home-based parent intervention on parenting behaviors for preventing adolescent substance use. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 20, 319-325.
A growing body of literature suggests that parenting practices characterized by careful monitoring, firm and consistent limit setting, and nurturing communication patterns with children are protective against adolescent substance use and other problem behaviors. Family-based prevention programs that promote these behaviors can be an effective way to prevent adolescent substance use. However, low participation rates remain problematic for many such programs, particularly programs that require parents to attend scheduled meetings outside the home. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a newly developed substance use prevention program when self-administered at home by parents of middle school students. As part of a randomized trial, 338 parents of middle school students either received the parent prevention program or served as control group participants. Parents completed self-report surveys at home that assessed parenting behaviors at pre-test, post-test, and one-year follow-up time points. A series of mixed model ANCOVAs were conducted, examining the post-test and one-year follow-up means for the parent outcomes, controlling for pre-test levels on these outcomes. Analyses showed that at the post-test assessment, intervention parents reported significant increases relative to controls in appropriate role modeling, disciplinary practices, family communication, and parental monitoring skills. At the one-year follow-up assessment, intervention effects on family communication skills remained significant and effects on parental role modeling were marginally significant. This study shows that a theoretically rich prevention program can be effectively self-administered by parents at home and improve key parenting skills that have been shown to prevent adolescent substance use.
Spoth, R. L., Randall, G., Trudeau, L., Shin, C., Redmond, C. (2008). Substance use outcomes 5 1/2 years past baseline for partnership-based, family school preventive interventions. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 96, 57-68.
This article reports adolescent substance use outcomes of universal family and school preventive interventions 5¬? years past baseline. Participants were 1677 7th grade students from schools (N= 36) randomly assigned to the school-based Life Skills Training plus the Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10‚Äì14 (LST + SFP 10‚Äì14), LST-alone, or a control condition. Self-reports were collected at baseline, 6 months later following the interventions, then yearly through the 12th grade. Measures included initiation‚Äîalcohol, cigarette, marijuana, and drunkenness, along with a Substance Initiation Index (SII)‚Äîand measures of more serious use‚Äîfrequency of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use, drunkenness frequency, monthly poly-substance use, and advanced poly-substance use. Analyses ruled out differential attrition. For all substance initiation outcomes, one or both intervention groups showed significant, positive point-in-time differences at 12th grade and/or significant growth trajectory outcomes when compared with the control group. Although no main effects for the more serious substance use outcomes were observed, a higher risk subsample demonstrated significant, positive 12th grade point-in-time and/or growth trajectory outcomes for one or both intervention groups on all measures. The observed pattern of results likely reflects a combination of predispositions of the higher-risk subsample, the timing of the interventions, and baseline differences between experimental conditions favoring the control group.
Spoth R., Trudeau L., Shin C., Redmond C. (2008). Long-term effects of universal preventive interventions on prescription drug misuse. Addiction.
Griffin, K. W., Botvin, G. J., & Nichols, T. R. (2006). Effects of a school-based drug abuse prevention program for adolescents on HIV risk behaviors in young adulthood. Prevention Science, 7, 103-112.
Early onset of substance use among adolescents has been found to be associated with later risky sexual behaviors. This study examined long-term follow-up data from a large randomized school-based drug prevention trial to (1) investigate the long-term impact of the prevention program on drug use and sexual behaviors that put one at elevated risk for HIV infection; and (2) use growth modeling procedures to examine potential mechanisms of intervention effects. Self-report survey data were collected from students in the 7th grade, prior to the intervention in 1985, and in grades 8, 9, 10, and 12. Participants in the intervention condition received a 30-session drug prevention program in 7th through 9th grades. Follow-up surveys were completed by 2042 young adults (mean age = 24) in 1998. As young adults, participants were considered to be engaging in high-risk behavior for HIV infection if they reported having multiple sex partners, having intercourse when drunk or very high, and recent high-risk substance use. The intervention had a direct protective effect on HIV risk behavior in the overall sample in young adulthood. Furthermore, among participants receiving 60% or more of the prevention program, analyses showed that the intervention significantly reduced growth in alcohol and marijuana intoxication over the course of adolescence, which in turn was associated with a reduction in later HIV risk behavior. The behavioral effects of competence-enhancement drug prevention programs can extend to risk behaviors including those that put one at risk for HIV infection.
Botvin, G. J., Griffin, K. W.,Nichols, T. R. (2006). Preventing youth violence and delinquency through a universal school-based prevention approach. Prevention Science, 7, 403-408.
Spoth, R.L., Clair, S., Shin, C., Redmond, C. (2006). Long-Term Effects of universal preventative interventions on methamphetamine use Among Adolescents. Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, 160, 876-882.
Objective: To examine the long-term effects of universal preventive interventions on methamphetamine use by adolescents in the general population during their late high school years.
Design: Two randomized, controlled prevention trials.
Setting: Public schools in the Midwest from 1993 to 2004.
Participants: Study 1 began with 667 sixth grade students from 33 rural public schools; the follow-up included 457 students. Study 2 began with 679 seventh grade students from 36 rural public schools; the follow- up assessment included 597 students.
Interventions: In study 1, schools were assigned to the Iowa Strengthening Families Program (ISFP), Preparing for the Drug Free Years, or a control condition. In study 2, schools were assigned to a revised ISFP (SFP 10-14) plus Life Skills Training (SPF 10-14_LST), LST alone, or a control condition.
Results: Self-reports of lifetime and past-year methamphetamine use were collected at 6¬? years past baseline (study 1) and at 4¬? and 5¬? years past baseline (study 2). In study 1, the ISFP past-year rate was 0.0% compared with 3.2% in the control condition (P=.04). In study 2, SFP 10-14_LST showed significant effects on lifetime and past-year use at the 4¬?year follow-up (eg, 0.5% lifetime use in the intervention condition vs 5.2% in the control condition, P=.006); both SFP 10-14_LST and LST alone had significant lifetime use effects at the 5¬? year follow-up.
Conclusion: Brief universal interventions have potential for public health impact by reducing methamphetamine use among adolescents.
Macaulay, A. P., Griffin, K. W., Gronewold, E., Williams, C., & Botvin, G. J. (2005). Parenting practices and adolescent drug-related knowledge, attitudes, norms, and behavior. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education, 49, 67-83.
The current study explored the relationships between parenting practices and adolescent drug use. Suburban middle school students (N = 2129) completed surveys that included measures of perceived parental monitoring, discipline and setting an anti-drug message as well as measures of drug-related knowledge, attitudes and peer norms. Results indicated that effective parenting practices had a direct protective effect in terms of adolescent drug use and that the protective effect of parenting practices remained significant after including the effects of parenting on adolescent drug-related knowledge, attitudes and perceived norms in a structural equation model. These findings suggest that effective parenting practices have a robust protective effect on youth drug use via multiple pathways that extend beyond parenting effects on the most proximal predictors of adolescent drug use.
Griffin, K. W., Botvin, G. J., & Nichols, T. R. (2004). Long-term follow-up effects of a school-based drug abuse prevention program on adolescent risky driving. Prevention Science, 5, 207-212.
This study examined long-term follow-up data from a large-scale randomized trial to determine the extent to which participation in a school-based drug abuse prevention program during junior high school led to less risky driving among high school students. Self-report data collected from students in the 7th, 10th, and 12th grades were matched by name to students’ department of motor vehicles (DMV) records at the end of high school. The DMV data included the total number of violations on students’ driving records as well as the number of “points” that indicate the frequency and severity of the violations. A series of logistic regression analyses revealed that males were more likely to have violations and points on their driving records than females, and regular alcohol users were more likely to have violations and points than those who did not use alcohol regularly. Controlling for gender and alcohol use, students who received the drug prevention program during junior high school were less likely to have violations and points on their driving records relative to control group participants that did not receive the prevention program. Findings indicated that antidrinking attitudes mediated the effect of the intervention on driving violations, but not points. These results support the hypothesis that the behavioral effects of competence-enhancement prevention programs can extend to risk behaviors beyond the initial focus of intervention, such as risky driving.
Griffin, K. W., Botvin, G. J., Nichols, T. R., & Doyle, M. M. (2003). Effectiveness of a universal drug abuse prevention approach for youth at high risk for substance use initiation. Preventive Medicine, 36, 1-7.
Universal school-based prevention programs for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use are typically designed for all students within a particular school setting. However, it is unclear whether such broad-based programs are effective for youth at high risk for substance use initiation. The effectiveness of a universal drug abuse preventive intervention was examined among youth from 29 inner-city middle schools participating in a randomized, controlled prevention trial. A subsample of youth (21% of full sample) were identified as at high risk for substance use initiation based on exposure to substance-using peers and poor academic performance in school. The prevention program taught drug refusal skills, anti-drug norms, personal self-management skills and general social skills. Findings indicated that youth at high risk who received the program (n = 426) reported less smoking, drinking, inhalant use, and polydrug use at the one-year follow-up assessment compared to youth at high risk in the control condition that did not receive the intervention (n = 332). Results indicate that a universal drug abuse prevention program is effective for minority, economically disadvantaged, inner-city youth who are at higher than average risk for substance use initiation. Findings suggest that universal prevention programs can be effective for a range of youth along a continuum of risk.
Fraguela, J. A., Martin, A. L., & Trinanes, E. A. (2003). Drug-Abuse prevention in the school: Four-year follow-up of a programme. Psychology in Spain, 7, 29-38.
This work presents the results obtained on applying a drug-abuse prevention program, an adaption of Botvin Lifeskills training‚ program. The initial sample comprised 1029 adolescents from five secondary schools in the city of Santiago de Compostela (NW Spain), distributed in three experimental conditions, two treatment, in which the programme was applied by teachers or by members of the research team, and a control condition. The article presents the results on the use of different drugs over four years of follow-up. The results obtained show how for the treatment condition lower levels of tobacco and alcohol consumption are found after a year of follow-up. In later evaluations these effects fade, but important differences emerge in the use of other drugs, such as cannabis, tranquilizers or amphetamines.
Zollinger, T. W., Saywell, R. M., Muegge, C. M., Wooldridge, J. S., Cummings, S. F., & Caine, V. A. (2003). Impact of the Life Skills Training curriculum on middle school students tobacco use in Marion County, Indiana, 1997-2000. Journal of School Health, 73, 338-346.
Evaluation of school-based tobacco prevention and control programs have yielded mixed results. This study assessed the impact of the Life Skills Training curriculum on Marion County, Ind., middle school students’ knowledge, attitudes, and ability to make good lifestyle decisions. From 1997 to 2000, students in grades six to eight in the study schools received the Life Skills Training curriculum. Survey data (n = 1,598) were used to compare tobacco use behavior, attitudes, and knowledge of those exposed with those not exposed to the program. Of the students surveyed, 12.5% were currently smoking. There were significantly fewer current smokers, and more students exposed to the program indicated they intended to stay smoke-free. Fewer of those participating in the program “hung out” with smokers and more said they should easily refuse a cigarette if offered one. Students completing the Life Skills Teaching curriculum were more knowledgeable about the health effects of smoking. Program effects were different for male and female student as well as for White and Black students.
Trudeau, L., Spoth, R., Lillehoj, C., Redmond, C., & Wickrama, K. (2003). Effects of a preventive intervention on adolescent substance use initiation, expectancies, and refusal intentions. Prevention Science, 4, 109-122.
This study evaluated the effects of a school-based preventive intervention (Botvin, G. J. 1996, 2000) on growth trajectories of substance initiation (alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana), expectancies and refusal intentions. A rural mid-western sample (N = 847) provided three waves of data from middle school students. Growth curve analyses demonstrated that the intervention significantly slowed the rate of increase in substance initiation and significantly slowed the rate of decrease in refusal intentions. The intervention also slowed the rate of decrease in negative outcome expectancies, although the significance level was only marginal. A multiple group comparison showed that the impact of initial levels of substance initiation on growth trajectories of refusal intentions differed between conditions, suggesting that the intervention decreased the effect of early substance initiation on the rate of change over time for refusal intentions. Gender differences also were found, although the intervention was effective in slowing the rate of increase in initiation for both genders.
Botvin, G. J., Griffin, K. W., Paul, E., & Macaulay, A. P. (2003). Preventing tobacco and alcohol use among elementary school students through Life Skills Training. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 12, 1-18.
The present study examined the effectiveness of a substance abuse prevention program in preventing tobacco and alcohol use among elementary school students in grades 3 through 6. The prevention program teaches social resistance skills and general personal and social competence skills. Rates of substance use behavior, attitudes, knowledge, normative expectations, and related variables were examined among students (N = 1090) from 20 schools who were randomly assigned to either receive the prevention program (9 schools, n = 426) or serve as a control group (11 schools, n = 664) who did not. Data were analyzed at both the individual-level and school-level. Individual-level analyses controlling for gender, race, and family structure showed that intervention students reported less smoking in the past year, higher anti-drinking attitudes, increased substance use knowledge and skills-related knowledge, lower normative expectations for smoking and alcohol use, and higher self-esteem at the posttest assessment, relative to control students. School-level analyses showed that annual prevalence rate was 61% lower for smoking and 25% lower for alcohol use at the posttest assessment in schools that received the prevention program when compared with control schools. In addition, mean self-esteem scores were higher in intervention schools at the posttest assessment relative to control schools. Findings indicate that a school-based substance abuse prevention approach previously found to be effective among middle school students is also effective for elementary school students.
Spoth, R. L., Redmond, C., Trudeau, L., & Shin, C. (2002). Longitudinal substance initiation outcomes for a universal preventive intervention combining family and school programs. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16, 129-134.
This study evaluated the substance initiation effects of an intervention combining family and school-based competency-training intervention components. Thirty-six rural schools were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) the classroom-based Life Skills Training (LST) and the Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Children 10–14, (b) LST only, or (c) a control condition. Outcomes were examined 1 year after the intervention posttest, using a substance initiation index (SII) measuring lifetime use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana and by rates of each individual substance. Planned intervention-control contrasts showed significant effects for both the combined and LST-only interventions on the SII and on marijuana initiation. Relative reduction rates for alcohol initiation were 30.0% for the combined intervention and 4.1% for LST only.
Botvin, G. J., Griffin, K. W., Diaz, T., & Ifill-Williams, M. (2001). Preventing binge drinking during early adolescence: One- and two-year follow-up of a school-based preventive intervention. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 15, 360-365.
The present study examined the effectiveness of a school-based prevention program on reducing binge drinking in a sample of minority, inner-city, middle school students. Rates of binge drinking were compared among youth who received the program beginning in the 7th grade (n = 1,713) and a control group (n = 1,328) that did not. The prevention program had protective effects in terms of binge drinking at the one-year (8th grade) and two-year (9th grade) follow-up assessments. The proportion of binge drinkers was over 50% lower in the intervention group relative to the control group at the follow-up assessments. There were also several significant program effects on proximal drinking variables including drinking knowledge, pro-drinking attitudes, and peer drinking norms. These findings indicate that a school-based drug abuse prevention approach previously found to be effective among white youth significantly reduced binge drinking among urban minority youth.
Botvin, G.J., Griffin, K.W., Diaz, T., & Ifill-Williams, M. (2001). Drug abuse prevention among minority adolescents: Posttest and one-year follow-up of a school-based preventive intervention. Prevention Science, 2(1), 1-13.
Most drug abuse prevention research has been conducted with predominantly White middle-class adolescent populations. The present study tested a school-based drug abuse preventive intervention in a sample of predominantly minority students (N D 3,621) in 29 New York City schools. The prevention program taught drug refusal skills, antidrug norms, personal self-management skills, and general social skills in an effort to provide students with skills and information for resisting drug offers, to decrease motivations to use drugs, and decrease vulnerability to drug use social influences. Results indicated that those who received the program (n D 2,144) reported less smoking, drinking, drunkenness, inhalant use, and polydrug use relative to controls (n D 1,477). The program also had a direct positive effect on several cognitive, attitudinal, and personality variables believed to play a role in adolescent substance use. Mediational analyses showed that prevention effects on some drug use outcomes were mediated in part by risk-taking, behavioral intentions, and peer normative expectations regarding drug use. The findings from this study show that a drug abuse prevention program originally designed for White middle-class adolescent populations is effective in a sample of minority, economically disadvantaged, inner-city adolescents.
Botvin, G.J., Griffin, K.W., Diaz, T., Scheier, L.M., Williams, C., & Epstein, J.A. (2000). Preventing illicit drug use in adolescents: Long-term follow-up data from a randomized control trial of a school population. Addictive Behaviors, 25, 769-774.
National survey data indicate that illicit drug use has steadily increased among American adolescents since 1992. This upward trend underscores the need for identifying effective prevention approaches capable of reducing the use of both licit and illicit drugs. The present study examined long-term follow-up data from a large-scale randomized prevention trial to determine the extent to which participation in a cognitive-behavioral skills-training prevention program led to less illicit drug use than for untreated controls. Data were collected by mail from 447 individuals who were contacted after the end of the 12th grade, six and a half years after the initial pre-test. Results indicated that students who received the prevention program (Life Skills Training) during junior high school reported less use of illicit drugs than controls. These results also support the hypothesis that illicit drug use can be prevented by targeting the use of gateway drugs such as tobacco and alcohol.
Botvin, G. J., Griffin, K. W., Diaz, T., Miller, N., & Ifill-Williams, M. (1999). Smoking initiation and escalation in early adolescent girls: One-year follow-up of a school-based prevention intervention for minority youth. Journal of the American Medical Women's Association, 54, 139-143.
Objective: To examine the effectiveness of a drug abuse prevention program in reducing the initiation and escalation of smoking in a sample of predominantly minority junior high school girls.
Methods: The 15-session prevention program teaches social resistance skills within the context of a broader intervention designed to promote general personal and social competence skills, and is implemented in the seventh grade. Smoking rates in girls from 29 New York City public schools who received the program (n=1,278) were compared smoking rates in a control group of girls (n=931) who did not.
Results: Those who participated in the program were less likely to initiate smoking relative to controls, due in part to significant program effects on smoking intentions, smoking knowledge, perceived peer and adult smoking norms, drug refusal skills, and risk taking. Experimental smokers in theintervention group were less likely to escalate to monthly smoking relative to controls, due in part to significant program effects on smoking intentions.
Conclusion: A school-based drug abuse prevention approach previously found to be effective among white youth significantly reduced smoking initiation and escalation among urban minority girls.
Botvin, G. J., Epstein, J. A., Baker, E., Diaz, T., Ifill-Williams, M., Miller, N., & Cardwell, J. (1997). School-based drug abuse prevention with inner-city minority youth. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, Vol. 6, No. 1, 5-20.
This study tested the effectiveness of a drug abuse prevention intervention with a predominantly minority sample of seventh-grade students (N=721) in 7 urban schools in New York City. The drug abuse prevention curriculum teaches social resistance skills within the context of a broader intervention promoting general personal and social competence and implemented by regular classroom teachers. Results indicated that this approach was effective on several behavioral measures of current drug use including measures of polydrug use and on intention measures relevant to future drug use. Furthermore, there was some evidence for factors presumed to mediate the effects of this type of intervention (normative expectations and refusal skills). The significance of these findings is that they provide further support for the generalizability to a minority inner-city adolescent population of an approach previously found to be effective with white middle-class adolescent populations. In addition, this is the first time that effects have been shown with inner- city minority youth for the use of multiple drugs.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Dusenbury, L., Botvin, E. M. & Diaz, T. (1995). Long-term follow-up results of a randomized drug abuse prevention trial in a White middle-class population. Journal of the American Medical Association, 273(14), 1106-1112.
Objective. To evaluate to the long-term efficacy of a school-based approach to drug abuse prevention. Design. Randomized trial involving 56 public schools that received the prevention program with annual provider training workshops and ongoing consultation, the prevention program with videotaped training and no consultations, or “treatment as usual (i.e., controls). Follow-up data were collected 6 years after baseline using school, telephone, and mailed surveys. Participants. A total of 3597 predominantly white, 12th grade students who represented 60.41% of the initial seventh-grade sample. Intervention. consisted of 15 classes in seventh grade, 10 booster sessions in eighth grade, and five booster sessions in ninth grade, and taught general “life skills” and skills for resisting social influences to use drugs. Measures. Six tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use self-report scales were recorded to create nine dichotomous drug use outcome variables and eight polydrug use variables. Results. Significant reductions in both drug and polydrug use were found for the two groups that received the prevention program relative to controls. The strongest effects were produced for individuals who received a reasonably complete version of the intervention?ëthere were up to 44% fewer drug users and 66% fewer polydrug (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana) users. Conclusions. Drug abuse prevention programs conducted during junior high school can produce meaningful and durable reductions in tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use if they (1) teach a combination of social resistance skills and general life skills, (2) are properly implemented, and (3) include at least 2 years of booster sessions.
Botvin, G. J., Schinke, S. P., Epstein, J. A., Diaz, T. & Botvin, E. M. (1995). Effectiveness of culturally-focused and generic skills training approaches to alcohol and drug abuse prevention among minority adolescents: Two-Year follow-up results. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 9, 183-194.
Two-year follow-up data were collected to test the effectiveness of two skills-based substance abuse prevention programs compared to a control condition with inner-city minority youth (N = 456). Students had originally been recruited from six New York City Public Schools while in seventh grade. These six schools were matched and randomly assigned to receive (a) a generic skills training prevention approach, (b) a culturally-focused prevention approach, or (c) an information-only control. Results indicated that students in both prevention approaches drank alcohol less often, were drunk less often, consumed less alcohol per drinking occasion, and had lower intentions to drink beer or wine and liquor in the future relative to students in the control group. Both prevention programs influenced several mediating variables in a direction generally consistent with non-drug use including increased alcohol and drug-related knowledge, attitudes, and refusal assertiveness, and decreased risk-taking. Thus prevention effects were produced with both interventions, relative to the control condition. The study provides support for the two approaches with respect to alcohol abuse prevention among inner-city minority youth.
Botvin, G. J., Dusenbury, L., Baker, E., James-Ortiz, S., Botvin, E. M., Kerner, J. (1992). Smoking prevention among urban minority youth: Assessing Effects on Outcome and Mediating Variables. Health Psychology, 11(5), 290-299.
Tested the effectiveness of a social resistance/competence enhancement approach to smoking prevention among predominantly Hispanic seventh graders (N=3,153) from 47 New York City schools. After blocking on school type (public and parochial) and ethnic composition (percent Hispanic), schools were randomly assigned to either receive the 15-session prevention program or serve as no-contact controls. Using the school as the unit of analysis, significant program effects were found for cigarette smoking, normative expectations concerning peer and adult smoking, smoking prevalence knowledge, social acceptability knowledge, and knowledge of smoking consequences. Using structural modeling techniques, a significant relationship was found between the normative expectation and knowledge variables affected by the intervention and posttest smoking, suggesting that changes on these variables mediated the impact of the intervention on cigarette smoking. This study extends the results of previous prevention research and demonstrates the generalizability of this approach to predominantly Hispanic urban minority students.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Dusenbury, L., Tortu, S., and Botvin, E. M. (1990). Preventing adolescent drug abuse through a multimodal cognitive-behavioral approach: Results of a three-year study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 437-446.
Students (N=4,466) attending 56 schools in New York State were involved in a 3-year study testing the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavrioal approach to substance abuse prevention. In a randomized block design, schools were assigned to receive (a) the prevention program with formal provider training and implementation feedback, (b) the prevention program with videotaped provider training and no feedback,, or (c) treatment. After pretest equivalence and comparability of conditions with respect to attrition were established, students who received at least 60% of the prevention program (N=3,684) were included in analyses of program effectiveness. Significant prevention effects were found for cigarette smoking, marijuana use, and immoderate alcohol use. Prevention effects were also found for normative expectations and knowledge concerning substance use, interpersonal skills, and communication skills.
Botvin, G. J., Batson, H., Witts-Vitale, S., Bess, V., Baker, E., and Dusenbury, L. (1989). A psychosocial approach to smoking prevention for urban black youth. Public Health Reports, 104, 573-582.
Traditional prevention approaches that focus solely on providing information about the adverse health consequences of smoking have consistently been demonstrated to be ineffective. In roughly the past eight years, a growing body of research has provided evidence supporting the effectiveness of smoking prevention approaches which increase adolescents’ resistance to social influences to smoke either alone or in combination with approaches which teach general life skills. Both approaches have been found to significantly reduce new cigarette smoking, with reductions ranging from 35 to 80 percent. [when compared with controls]
A major limitation of this research is that these approaches have been tested almost exclusively on white, middle-class adolescents. Because of this, little is known about the extent to which these newer prevention approaches work for urban black youth. There is also very little information available concerning the etiology of smoking among black populations, which means that there is little empirical data available for guiding efforts to either refine current prevention models or develop new models suitable for black youth.
Our purpose in conducting this study, therefore, was to provide pilot data with urban black students regarding the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a prevention approach previously found to be effective with white middle class students attending suburban schools.
Botvin, G. J., Dusenbury, L., Baker, E., James-Ortiz, S., and Kerner, J. (1989). A skills training approach to smoking prevention among Hispanic youth. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12, 279-296.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Botvin, E. M., Filazzola, A. D., and Millman, R. B. (1984). Prevention of alcohol misuse through the development of personal and social competence: A pilot study. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 45, 550-552.
Seventh graders (N=239) from two New York City junior high schools were involved in a 9-month study testing the efficacy of a broad-spectrum approach for prevention of alcohol misuse. The two schools were randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions. the seventh graders in the treatment school received a 20-session program targeted at the major cognitive, attitudinal, social and personality factors believed to promote the early stages of alcohol misuse. The program contained material on decision making, coping with anxiety, general social skills and assertiveness (including techniques for resisting peer pressure to drink) as well as information about the short- and long-term consequences of alcohol misuse. Complete pretest, posttest 1 and posttest 2 data were collected from 167 students (89 women). A significantly greater proportion of the students in the experimental group reported less frequent drinking (p<.02), less drinking per occasion (p<.04), and less frequent episodes of drunkenness (p<.01) than the students in the control group.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Renick, N., Filazzola, A. D., and Botvin, E. M. (1984). A cognitive-behavioral approach to substance abuse prevention. Addictive Behaviors, 9, 137-147.
The effectiveness of a 20 session cognitive-behavioral approach to substance abuse prevention was tested on seventh grade students (n=1,311) from 10 suburban New York junior high schools. the prevention strategy attempted to reduce intrapersonal pressure to smoke, drink excessively, or use marijuana by fostering the development of general life skills as well as teaching students tactics for resisting direct interpersonal pressure to use these substances. Additionally, this study was designed to compare the relative effectiveness of this type of prevention program when implemented by either older peer leaders or regular classroom teachers. Results indicated that the prevention program had a significant impact on cigarette smoking, excessive drinking, and marijuana use when implemented by peer leaders. Furthermore, significant changes were also evident with respect to selected cognitive, attitudinal, and personality predisposing variables in a direction consistent with non-substance use. These results provide further support for the efficacy of broad-spectrum smoking prevention strategy and tentative support for its applicability to the prevention of other forms of substance abuse.
Botvin, G. J., Renick, N .L., and Baker E. (1983). The effects of scheduling format and booster sessions on a broad-spectrum psychosocial smoking prevention program. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 6, 359-379.
The effectiveness of a fifteen session psychosocial smoking prevention strategy was tested on 902 seventh graders from seven junior high schools in suburban new York over 2 years. The prevention program was implemented by regular classroom teachers and consisted of a cognitive component dealing with the immediate consequences of cigarette smoking, a decision-making component, a relaxation-training component, a social skills training component, and a self-improvement component. In addition to testing the overall effectiveness of this approach, the relative efficacy of two different scheduling formats was compared and the extent to which “booster” sessions conducted during the year after completion of the program helped to maintain reductions in new smoking was also examined. Results indicated that the prevention program was able to reduce ne cigarette smoking by 50% at the end of the first year and by 55% at the end of the second year of the intensive format condition. New regular cigarette smoking was reduced by 87% in the second year for the students in the booster condition. Significant changes consistent with nonsmoking were also evident on several cognitive, attitudinal, and personality variables.
Botvin, G. J. and Eng, A. (1982). The efficacy of a multicomponent approach to the prevention of cigarette smoking. Preventive Medicine, 11, 199-211.
The efficacy of 12-session multicomponent peer leadership smoking prevention program was tested on 426 seventh graders. The program focused on the acquisition of basic life skills and the improvement of personal competence, with particular emphasis on coping with social influences to smoke. Experimental and control groups were compared in terms of self-reported smoking status and several knowledge and psychological variables hypothesized to be related to smoking onset. In addition, saliva thiocyanate (SCN) levels were analyzed in a subsample of students. A significant reduction in new smoking was seen in students in the experimental group, based on both the analysis of self-reported smoking status and SCN levels. There also were significant end-of-treatment differences between the experimental and control groups on three of the knowledge variables and two of the psychological variables. At 1-year follow-up, significantly fewer of the students in the experimental group had become regular (weekly) cigarette smokers than those in the control group. These results indicate the short-term effectiveness of a broad-spectrum smoking prevention program that may be applicable to several areas of health education.
Botvin, G. J., Eng, A., and Williams, C. L. (1980). Preventing the onset of cigarette smoking through life skills training. Preventive Medicine, 9, 135-143.
The effectiveness of a 10-session social psychological approach to the prevention of cigarette smoking was tested on 8th, 9th, and 10th graders (N=281) in suburban New York. The program was designed to address both the social and psychological factors promoting the onset of smoking by attempting to: (a) increase students’ ability to cope with direct pressures to smoke, (b) decrease their susceptibility to indirect pro-smoking social influences, and (c) improve their ability to cope with anxiety. the program was conducted by allied health professionals and utilized group discussion, modeling, and behavior rehearsal. Results indicate significant differences between the experimental and control groups in terms of the proportion of new “experimental smokers” (P<.01). Furthermore, there were significantly greater pretest/post-test changes for the experimental group on several of the knowledge and psychological measures, suggesting that the decrease in the onset of smoking behavior among the experimental subjects did occur for the hypothesized reasons.
Elementary School
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