NCJ Number
233900
Journal
Prevention Science Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2010 Pages: 24-32
Date Published
March 2010
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study developed and tested an Internet-based gender-specific drug abuse prevention program for adolescent girls.
Abstract
A sample of seventh, eighth, and ninth grade girls (N=236) from 42 States and 4 Canadian provinces were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. All girls completed an online pretest battery. Following pretest, intervention girls interacted with a 12-session, Internet-based gender-specific drug prevention program. Girls in both groups completed the measurement battery at posttest and 6-month follow-up. Analysis of posttest scores revealed no differences between groups for 30-day reports of alcohol, marijuana, poly drug use, or total substance use (alcohol and drugs). At 6-month follow-up, between-group effects were found on measures of 30-day alcohol use, marijuana use, poly drug use, and total substance use. Relative to girls in the control group, girls exposed to the Internet-based intervention reported lower rates of use for these substances. Moreover, girls receiving the intervention achieved gains over girls in the control group on normative beliefs and self-efficacy at posttest and 6-month follow-up, respectively. (Published Abstract) 40 references