NCJ Number
175000
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 35 Issue: 4 Dated: November 1998 Pages: 381-412
Date Published
1998
Length
32 pages
Annotation
A randomized longitudinal field experiment was conducted to estimate the short-term and long-term effects of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (D.A.R.E.) on students' attitudes, beliefs, social skills, and drug use behaviors.
Abstract
Students from urban, suburban and rural schools (n=1,798) were followed for more than 6 years, with surveys administered each year from 6th through 12th grades. Teachers were also surveyed annually to measure students' cumulative exposure to supplemental (post-D.A.R.E.) drug education. Multilevel analyses (random-effects ordinal regression) were conducted on seven waves of posttreatment data. The results show that D.A.R.E. had no long-term effects on a wide range of drug-use measures, nor did it show a lasting impact on hypothesized mediating variables, with one exception. Previously documented short-term effects had dissipated by the conclusion of the study. Some D.A.R.E.-by- community interactions were observed; urban and rural students showed some benefits; whereas, suburban students experienced small but significant increases in drug use after participating in D.A.R.E. The study concludes that it may be time to re- examine drug prevention policies and practices. Policy makers, searching for a magic bullet to the drug problem, have expected too much from a single program. Compounding the problem, parents, educators, and police officers have confused program popularity with program effectiveness. The logical next step is for the Federal Government to fund a large randomized field trial in diverse settings, testing various prototype curriculum elements with alternative delivery systems. 1 figure, 8 tables, and 60 references