The proposed research will focus on rural 12 to 15 year old adolescents, from nine cooperating school districts, who are at risk for substance abuse. This research connects with an existing study funded by NIDA that examines the effects of the Life Skills Training (LST) and Infused-Life Skills Training (I-LST) programs on the reduction of ATOD use among this population. The general purposes of the current research are to (a) evaluate a substance abuse prevention program based on learning appropriate and healthy ways to use leisure time through a leisure education program and (b) determine the additional benefit of the leisure education program compared to the LST and l-LST programs. A secondary goal is to evaluate the fidelity of teachers to the CS-T and I-LST curricula during the years the investigative team was not directly involved with curriculum implementation. It is hypothesized that the leisure education program alone will mediate ATOD use by increasing leisure time attitudes, interests, and competencies, but that the combined influence of the leisure education program and the LST or l-LST will be most effective in increasing competencies to avoid ATOD use. It is expected that there will be an additional mediational effect provided by the leisure education program above either the LST or l-LST programs. The leisure education program (Extreme Leisure Time: Get in the Flow [X-L Flow]) uses social learning theory (Bandura, 1977) as the basis for the program's process. Content is based or leisure behavior theories (e.g., Iso-Ahola, 1979), theories of optimal arousal, including flow, boredom, and sensation seeking (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), and substitution theory (e.g., Iso-Ahola, 1986). Current leisure education models (e.g., Stumbo, 1998) will serve as the basis for the X-LT: Flow program. Project staff will deliver the six session curriculum, and subsequent booster sessions. Process as well as outcome evaluation methods will be used. One pre-test and three posttests over three years will provide outcome data. The current research is important because the leisure time context, which is largely ignored in prevention efforts, represents an important time that both developmentally healthy as well as unhealthy (e.g., ATOD use) activities occur.
| Caldwell, Linda L; Bradley, Stephanie; Coffman, Donna (2009) A person-centered approach to individualizing a school-based universal preventive intervention. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 35:214-9 |
| Henry, Kimberly L; Smith, Edward A; Caldwell, Linda L (2007) Deterioration of academic achievement and marijuana use onset among rural adolescents. Health Educ Res 22:372-84 |
