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Preventing Tobacco and Alcohol Use Among Elementary School Students Through Life Skills Training

NCJ Number
202956
Journal
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Dated: 2003 Pages: 1-17
Author(s)
Gilbert J. Botvin; Kenneth W. Griffin; Elizabeth Paul; Araxi P. Macaulay
Date Published
2003
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article examines the effectiveness of a substance abuse prevention program in preventing tobacco and alcohol use among elementary school students.
Abstract
The goal of the prevention program, Life Skills Training (LST), was to reduce tobacco and alcohol use by providing youth with the necessary knowledge and skills for resisting social influences to use tobacco and alcohol, as well as to reduce motivation to use these substances. The program consisted of 24 classes (30-45 minutes each) taught over 3 years with 8 classes per year for students in grades third, fourth, and fifth. The focus was on teaching of information for drug resistance skills, personal self-management and general social skills for increasing overall competence, and promoting the development of characteristics associated with decreased risk of using drugs in the future. Rates of substance use behavior, attitudes, knowledge, normative expectations, and related variables were examined among students from 20 schools that were randomly assigned to either receive the prevention program or serve as a control group. Data were analyzed at both the individual-level and school-level. The results of analyses conducted at both the individual and school levels indicate that the elementary LST program reduced the annual prevalence of cigarette smoking and alcohol use. 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 rates for smoking and alcohol use were lower at the posttest assessment in schools that received the prevention program than among control schools. Mean self-esteem scores were higher in intervention schools at the posttest assessment relative to control schools. These findings provide preliminary evidence that a school-based substance abuse prevention approach previously found to be effective among middle school students is also effective for elementary school students. 4 tables, 1 note, 29 references