NCJ Number
138461
Date Published
1990
Length
78 pages
Annotation
This report presents the methodology and results of an evaluation of Project ALERT (Adolescent Learning Experiences in Resistance Training)-- which is designed to prevent or reduce the use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana by adolescents--as used experimentally with seventh and eighth graders in 30 schools in California and Oregon between 1984 and 1986.
Abstract
The ALERT curriculum is based on the social influence model of prevention. The curriculum consists of eight weekly lessons for seventh graders and three booster sessions for eighth graders. It aims to develop students' motivation and skills to resist pro-drug pressures, to give them counters to pro-drug arguments, and to equip them with a repertoire of resistance strategies. In analyzing the program's effects, the evaluation used advanced statistical techniques that controlled for preexisting differences among individuals and schools. This and random assignment permitted isolation of the program's effects and elimination of other factors that might explain differences in drug use among the experimental groups. Program results were assessed at periodic intervals from baseline to 15 months. The rate of marijuana initiation in the ALERT schools was one-third lower than that in the control schools. Regular and daily smoking by students who had experimented with cigarettes before being introduced to the program were reduced by as much as 50 to 60 percent. The major conclusion of the evaluation is that school programs based on the social influence model can be effective in decreasing substance use among young adolescents. Figures, tables, and 98 references