Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jun:93:86-92.
doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.01.010. Epub 2019 Jan 16.

Two- and three-year follow-up from a gender-specific, web-based drug abuse prevention program for adolescent girls

Traci Marie Schwinn  1 , Steven Paul Schinke  2 , Bryan Keller  3 , Jessica Hopkins  2
Affiliations

Two- and three-year follow-up from a gender-specific, web-based drug abuse prevention program for adolescent girls

Traci Marie Schwinn et al. Addict Behav. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Introduction: Rates of drug use among early adolescent girls meet or exceed rates of their male counterparts. Girls are also vulnerable to differential risk factors for drug use. Yet, expressly designed prevention programs targeting this population are absent. The present study reports 2- and 3-year findings on a web-based drug abuse prevention program for adolescent girls.

Methods: A sample of adolescent girls (N = 788) were recruited via Facebook. Online, all girls completed pretests; girls were randomly assigned to a 9-session intervention arm or to a measurement-only control arm and all girls completed posttests. All girls also completed 1-, 2-, and 3-year follow-up measurements.

Results: At 2-year follow-up and compared to girls in the control arm, intervention-arm girls reported less past-month cigarette, marijuana, and "other" drug use (club drugs, cocaine, ecstasy, hallucinogens, heroin, inhalants, methamphetamines, steroids, prescription drugs), lower rates of peer drug use, and increased scores on drug refusal skills, coping skills, self-esteem, media literacy, and self-efficacy. At 3-year follow-up, and compared to girls in the control arm, intervention-arm girls reported less past-month cigarette and e-cigarette use, lower rates of peer drug use, lower reported anxiety and stress, and increased scores on drug refusal skills, self-esteem, media literacy, self-efficacy, and body image.

Conclusions: Longitudinal outcome data lend support to the efficacy of a gender-specific, web-based drug abuse prevention program to reduce adolescent girls' drug use rates and associated risk factors.

Keywords: Drug abuse; Female; Gender-specific; Prevention; Web-based.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations of interest: none.

References

    1. Anker JJ, & Carroll ME (2011). Females are more vulnerable to drug abuse than males: Evidence from preclinical studies and the role of ovarian hormones. In Neill JC & Kulkarni J (Eds.), Biological basis of sex differences in psychopharmacology (pp. 73–96). Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag. - PubMed
    1. Bandura A (1986). Social foundations of thought and action Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
    1. Belgrave FZ, Chase-Vaughn G, Gray F, Addison JD, & Cherry VR (2000). The effectiveness of a culture and gender-specific intervention for increasing resiliency among African American preadolescent females. Journal of Black Psychology, 26, 133–147. 10.1177/0095798400026002001 - DOI
    1. Becker JB, McClellan ML, & Reed BG (2017). Sex differences, gender and addiction. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 95, 136–147. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Botvin GJ & Griffin KW (2004). Life Skills Training: Empirical findings and future directions. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 25, 211–232. 10.1023/B:J0PP.0000042391.58573.5b - DOI

Publication types