The proposed project is a randomized control trial of a community intervention to prevent youth drug use. The project compares a community-based intervention that includes a school-based prevention program to a school-based intervention alone, using 16 small communities that are matched and then randomly assigned to condition. The proposed project will augment and extend a community intervention project designed to prevent youth tobacco use, which is already funded by the National Cancer Institute. It will expand the focus of the NCI tobacco-oriented community-based intervention to include activities directed at the mobilization of community leaders and organizations to modify the social conditions which influence youth to use other drugs. Available research strongly supports the proposition that substantial reductions in the prevalence of drug use cannot be achieved without widespread changes in parenting skills and schooling practices. Such changes in turn require the mobilization of elements of the community which have traditionally not been involved in affecting child-rearing practices. The proposed intervention would augment the membership and focus of the community board and task forces to be created in the NCI community intervention. In addition, the project would restructure and expand the task forces on (a) parenting, (b) media, (c) screening/ recruitment of high risk youth, and (d) modification of the community environment to focus on the community-wide reduction of risk factors for youth drug use. This project would create two additional task forces in each community--one to implement more effective risk reduction practices in schools and one to improve community support of high risk youth and their families. A particular strength of this proposal is that a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the community interventions will be possible because of the already-funded NCI evaluation activities. The intervention effects will be evaluated using cross-sectional and longitudinal assessments of 7th and 9th grade-level youth, as well as through assessments of parenting and teaching practices, and by measuring efforts of community leaders and organizations to affect the social environment for high risk youth and their families. The study will also examine the relationships between aspects of the social context for youth drug use and other targeted problem behaviors. Finally, the project will experimentally evaluate the effect of a parent-training program for high-risk families. This project is expected to be a model for community interventions to prevent youth drug use in small communities.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA007389-04
Application #
2119899
Study Section
Drug Abuse Epidemiology and Prevention Research Review Committee (DAPA)
Project Start
1991-09-30
Project End
1996-07-31
Budget Start
1994-09-01
Budget End
1995-07-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Oregon Research Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
053615423
City
Eugene
State
OR
Country
United States
Zip Code
97403
Biglan, A; Ary, D V; Smolkowski, K et al. (2000) A randomised controlled trial of a community intervention to prevent adolescent tobacco use. Tob Control 9:24-32
Biglan, A; Taylor, T K (2000) Why have we been more successful in reducing tobacco use than violent crime? Am J Community Psychol 28:269-302
Irvine, A B; Biglan, A; Smolkowski, K et al. (1999) The value of the Parenting Scale for measuring the discipline practices of parents of middle school children. Behav Res Ther 37:127-42
Ary, D V; Duncan, T E; Duncan, S C et al. (1999) Adolescent problem behavior: the influence of parents and peers. Behav Res Ther 37:217-30
Duncan, S C; Strycker, L A; Duncan, T E (1999) Exploring associations in developmental trends of adolescent substance use and risky sexual behavior in a high-risk population. J Behav Med 22:21-34
Ary, D V; Duncan, T E; Biglan, A et al. (1999) Development of adolescent problem behavior. J Abnorm Child Psychol 27:141-50
Irvine, A B; Biglan, A; Smolkowski, K et al. (1999) The effectiveness of a parenting skills program for parents of middle school students in small communities. J Consult Clin Psychol 67:811-25
Biglan, A; Ary, D; Yudelson, H et al. (1996) Experimental evaluation of a modular approach to mobilizing antitobacco influences of peers and parents. Am J Community Psychol 24:311-39
Duncan, T E; Tildesley, E; Duncan, S C et al. (1995) The consistency of family and peer influences on the development of substance use in adolescence. Addiction 90:1647-60
Biglan, A (1995) Translating what we know about the context of antisocial behavior into a lower prevalence of such behavior. J Appl Behav Anal 28:479-92

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