On the Effectiveness of Drug Prevention in School: Effects of Peerbased and Adult-Led Drug Prevention on Self Efficacy and Substance Use Among Secondary-School Students

ABSTRACT

The present study aims at comparing the influence of two different models of substance abuse prevention – a peer-based and an adult-based drug prevention program – on the self efficacy and substance abuse behaviour of secondary school students. The results of previous research suggest that the the peer-based drug prevention method might be more effective than the adult-led program in maximizing students’ self-efficacy and reducing their substance consumption. A sample comprising 376 secondary school students of two different Viennese secondary schools was selected for implementing one of these two drug prevention models for a period of three years. The project was based on a longitudinal study that extended over four years and in which the subjects were made to answer a questionnaire containing 101 questions at five points in time. While the findings as a whole did not unambiguously confirm the greater efficacy of the peer-led programme, the main results indicate that the peer based programme had a positive impact on regular alcohol consumption, as at assessment timepoint 4 (end of intervention) 48% of the students in the adult-led programme, but only 33% of those in the peer-led programme were reported to drink alcohol regularly, a finding that is statistically significant. On the other hand, no influence on tobacco smoking was noted. While, in purely descriptive terms, the peer-led prevention model might have exhibited a positive influence on drug consumption over time, the difference from the adultled prevention model was not statistically significant. Concerning the second subject under investigation, the connection between self-efficacy and substance use, our findings suggest that – irrespective of the method of instruction – students with a high level of perceived self-efficacy were likely to show a lower level of substance use than their low-self-efficacy counterparts. This finding, however, applies only to individual assessment timepoints, not to the whole duration of the intervention. In any case, our results suggest that more studies are required to examine if there exists any evidence that students with a high level of self efficacy are more likely to show a lower level of substance abuse than those with a lower degree of self efficacy regarding substances other than alcohol.

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