Effects of a School-Based Drug Abuse Prevention Program for Adolescents on HIV Risk Behavior in Young Adulthood

Abstract

Abstract:Early onset of substance use among adolescents has been found to be associated with later risky sexual behaviors. This study examined long-term follow-up data from a large randomized school-based drug prevention trial to (1) investigate the long-term impact of the prevention program on drug use and sexual behaviors that put one at elevated risk for HIV infection; and (2) use growth modeling procedures to examine potential mechanisms of intervention effects. Selfreport survey data were collected from students in the 7th grade, prior to the intervention in 1985, and in grades 8, 9, 10, and 12. Participants in the intervention condition received a 30-session drug prevention program in 7th through 9th grades. Follow-up surveys were completed by 2042 young adults (mean age = 24) in 1998. As young adults, participants were considered to be engaging in high-risk behavior for HIV infection if they reported having multiple sex partners, having intercourse when drunk or very high, and recent high-risk substance use. The intervention had a direct protective effect on HIV risk behavior in the overall sample in young adulthood. Furthermore, among participants receiving 60% or more of the prevention program, analyses showed that the intervention significantly reduced growth in alcohol and marijuana intoxication over the course of adolescence, which in turn was associated with a reduction in later HIV risk behavior. The behavioral effects of competence-enhancement drug prevention programs can extend to risk behaviors including those that put one at risk for HIV infection.adolescence | drug abuse prevention | HIV risk behavior | latent growth curve Keywords: Article:HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are among the most pressing public health problems in the United States and throughout the world. As of the end of 2002, it was estimated that over 859,000 people in the United States had been diagnosed with AIDS since the epidemic began, and over 501,000 had died of AIDS (CDC, 2003). Furthermore, while rates of AIDS deaths have declined in recent years in the United States, this appears to be primarily due to advances in treatment (i.e., highly active anti-retroviral therapies) rather than changes in HIV risk behaviors. Annual national incidence rates of HIV infection have remained constant or increased slightly in the past 10 years, although this figure is difficult to estimate because newly infected individuals often do not know they are infected (CDC, 2003). HIV/AIDS is an epidemic that disproportionately affects young people in the United States. AIDS is the seventh leading cause of death among Americans aged 15-24 (Hoyert et al., 1999). Given the long latency between infection and symptoms of immunodeficiency, it is believed that most young adults with AIDS contracted HIV as adolescents. It is estimated that at least 50% of new infections in the United States are among young people under the age of 25 (CDC, 2002). Furthermore, among those diagnosed with non-HIV sexually transmitted diseases in the Unite...

Preventing Youth Violence and Delinquency through a Universal School-Based Prevention Approach

“…Prevention approaches designed to decrease the impact of social influences to use tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs by teaching resistance skills and antisubstance use norms either alone or in combination with teaching generic personal selfmanagement skills and social skills have been shown to significantly reduce the rate of adolescent substance use (Botvin & Griffin, 2003). In some instances, reductions in substance use have been observed for over five years (Botvin, Baker, Dusenbury, Botvin, & Diaz, 1995;Griffin, Botvin, & Nichols, 2006). Moreover, evidence from recent follow-up studies testing universal, school-based prevention approaches demonstrates the potential of these interventions for preventing multiple problem behaviors, including some not directly targeted.…”

“…Moreover, evidence from recent follow-up studies testing universal, school-based prevention approaches demonstrates the potential of these interventions for preventing multiple problem behaviors, including some not directly targeted. For example, the Life Skills Training (LST) program has been found to not only reduce several forms of substance use (e.g., Botvin et al, 1995;Botvin et al, 2001) but also to reduce risky driving among high schools students (Griffin, Botvin, & Nichols, 2004) and HIV risk among young adults (Griffin et al, 2006). These effects are hypothesized to be the result of the relationship between one or more forms of substance use and other health risk behaviors (such as alcohol use and risky driving) and/or the result of one or more common etiologic determinants affected by the preventive intervention.…”

Effects of transfer-oriented curriculum on multiple behaviors in the Netherlands

“…However, transfer theory and the results of this study suggest that generalization to other domains is possible when specific conditions are taken into account. To our knowledge, one other program besides our program has shown to have effects on behavioral domains that were not taught: the Life Skills Training program for substance abuse prevention has had effects on risky driving and HIV risk behavior (Griffin et al, , 2006. The authors of these studies and others (Noar et al, 2008) attribute these effects to the strong program focus on generic self-management and social skills.…”

Influencia familiar sobre las actitudes ante el consumo de drogas en adolescentes españoles

“…A nivel preventivo se ha constatado la efi cacia del enfoque de habilidades de resistencia social y, en concreto, de programas de entrenamiento en habilidades para la vida califi cadas así por organismos internacionales tales como la OMS (1993), dada la escasa acción de los programas basados en la didáctica formativa en modificar conductas de consumo (Botvin & Kantor, 2000;Moral et al, 2009;Toumbourou & Stockwell, 2007). Entre ellos, destacan los programas que entrenan las habilidades de resistencia a la presión del grupo de pares (Botvin & Griffi n, 2005;De Vries et al, 2006;Faggiano, Vigna-Taglianti, Versino, Zambon, Borracino & Lemma, 2008;Griffi n, Botvin, Nichols & Doyle, 2003;Griffi n, Botvin & Nichols, 2006). Asimismo, se ha confi rmado la efi cacia de programas dirigidos a fomentar en los padres una crianza adecuada que redunden en la mejora de sus habilidades parentales y el comportamiento de sus hijos (Kumpfer, 2004).…”