NCJ Number
233808
Journal
Journal of Drug Education Volume: 40 Issue: 4 Dated: 2010 Pages: 395-410
Date Published
2010
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the extent to which two individual student characteristics, need for cognition and impulsive decisionmaking, moderated the relationship between teacher delivery skills in regard to a school substance use prevention program and program outcomes.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to extend the literature in both substance use implementation and persuasive health communication by examining the extent to which students' need for cognition and impulsive decisionmaking moderated the relationship between teachers' classroom communication behavior and program outcomes in an evidence-based middle school substance use prevention curriculum. Participants included 48 teachers and their respective seventh grade students who participated in a randomized trial testing the effectiveness of personal coaching as a means to improve the quality with which teachers implemented the All Stars curriculum. Need for cognition and impulse decisionmaking were both associated with positive changes in lifestyle incongruence and commitments to not use substance for students whose teachers displayed greater interactive teaching. Further, need for cognition was associated with lower alcohol use rates while impulse decisionmaking related to lower rates of marijuana use in classes with interactive teaching. (Published Abstract) Tables and references