Prevention of Adolescent Alcohol Misuse: An Elementary School Program

Abstract

An alcohol misuse prevention study (AMPS) program was developed, implemented, and evaluated in 213 fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms in sixschool districts (N = 5,635 students). The AMPS program consisted of four sessions which focused on the immediate effects of alcohol, risks of alcohol misuse, and social pressures to misuse alcohol. Social skills to resist peer pressure to misuse alcohol were emphasized. Schools were assigned randomly to treatment or control groups with half of each group pretested and all post-tested. Measures focused on awareness of curriculum content, alcohol use, and alcohol misuse. As hypothesized, a significant Treatment × Occasion interaction effect was found with respect to the curriculum. The treatment subjects were significantly higher than the controls on mean curriculum scores. Also as hypothesized, there were no Treatment × Occasion interactions at the first posttest occasion on alcohol use and misuse due to the low prevalence in both groups at both occasions. The significant Treatment × Occasion interaction effects with respect to alcohol use and misuse are expected to appear at later posttest occasions as use and misuse of alcohol among control group students increase at greater rates than among the treatment group students.