The goal of this proposal is to determine the efficacy of an intervention model that aims to diminish alcohol and substance abuse and increase school engagement among adolescents in the transition from middle school to high school. On the basis of preliminary intervention observations and findings from a longitudinal study, a short-term intervention program was designed to take advantage of middle school transition as a turning point in the children's engagement to school.
The specific aims were to: (a) encourage the establishment of prosocial and productive social relationships in the school setting and in the adolescent's social network; (b) strengthen school engagement and facilitate academics progress in grade-appropriate middle school academic subjects; establish bridges across the community and open access to fresh opportunities for youth and their families, and heighten the parental investment to the child and the prevention intervention. The primary subjects are minority children who are enrolled in the 6th grade in middle school. Eight middle schools with three classrooms per school are involved in the research. The subjects were drawn from rural disadvantaged populations in the Black Belt region of Alabama. Specifically, the population of Wilcox/Green (AL) counties is more African American (68 % nonwhite). These are two of the poorest counties in the State. This project involves an examination of part of the data collected from the Alabama Study related to alcohol use and abuse in this rural populations. This project will plot the effects of an integrated prevention program designed to reduce alcohol and substance abuse by enhancing school engagement, enlarging participation in the social network and conventional social relationships, diminishing aggression confrontations, and heightening academic achievement for youth in middle school.
