NCJ Number
189429
Journal
Journal of Drug Education Volume: 31 Issue: 1 Dated: 2001 Pages: 83-122
Date Published
January 2010
Length
40 pages
Annotation
This paper examines school-based drug education from educational, social, and institutional perspectives and presents a promising alternative program that complements comprehensive school reform.
Abstract
Billions of dollars are spent annually on school-based drug education programs, with youthful drug use remaining near peak levels since the 1980's. Institutional, policy, and program evidence presented in this paper suggests that although drug education is primarily delivered in schools, the educational community rarely participates in the development of drug education. Further, despite the finding that "no-use" programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) or Life-Skills Training (LST) are likely ineffective, they continue to thrive in schools. This may be explained by insufficient educational participation and limited scientific discourse that considers these issues, as well as the role of interest group politics -- such as the symbiotic relationship between government, researchers, and the tobacco industry -- in drug education. As distinct from the concepts and practices of risk reduction, the application of resilience in education is in its infancy, but it shows promise. "Resilience education" has been defined as "the development of decision making and affective skills within each person and connectedness between people in the context of a healthy/democratic learning community." Development of a resilience-based learning community has resulted in youth having a fuller sense of school as community, higher levels of internal locus of control, concern for others, and conflict resolution skills. At the curriculum program level, youth show more participation, higher self-efficacy, better decision making skills, and less involvement with outside negative activities. Researchers anticipate longer term results and the possible replication of findings. Resilience education shows promise for assisting students in learning how to weigh the consequences of possible decisions they could make on drug issues. This paper also discusses the evaluation components of resilience drug education and the institutional prognosis for resilience drug education. 1 table, appended confidential tobacco industry youth strategy document, and 170 references