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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this study by DeJong was to describe a short-term evaluation conducted to determine the impact of Project DARE on the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of children who received the full-semester of the DARE curriculum.
METHODOLOGY:
A quasi-experimental, cross-sectional study was employed. A total of 1,663 students in seventh grade health classes from four junior high schools in Los Angeles completed a questionnaire in 1986. Of those, 714 stated they had completed a full semester course of Project DARE, 116 had one to three sessions, and 833 had no DARE classes. Questionnaires were randomly selected from each class in all four schools for a final sample of 288 full semester DARE students and 310 no DARE students. The students who had one to three sessions were not included in this study.
Demographic information was taken on name, sex, age, birthdate, number of siblings, and the elementary school attended in sixth grade. Students were then asked to indicate their level of agreement (1 = disagree a lot, 4 = agree a lot) with each of eight statements related to self-esteem and independent decision-making. Next, students were asked three open-ended questions that were designed to determine students' willingness and ability to refuse alcohol and drugs when pressured by peers. Using a four point scale (1 = never, 4 = a lot), students were next asked to state how many times since graduating from sixth grade had they used the following substances: beer, marijuana, cigarettes, wine, speed, downers, hard liquor, inhalants, and PCP. Finally, students were asked to report their level of agreement (1 = disagree a lot, 4 = agree a lot) with eighteen statements based on the content of the DARE curriculum. Additional information was provided by administrators at three of the schools on students' academic grades for the first semester of seventh grade and the language spoken in the child's home.
The author hypothesized that students who had completed the DARE program would score higher in terms of self-esteem, would reject their peers' offers and use refusal strategies that removed them from the situation more often, and would have used less substances than students who did not complete the DARE program. Analysis included the use of multiple regression, chi-square, and t-tests.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
In regards to self-concept, the findings indicated that, contrary to the author's prediction, analyses of the individual items showed no significant differences between the DARE and no DARE groups. In terms of acceptance of offers by peers from the open-ended questions, on average the students in the DARE group accepted significantly fewer offers (p<.02) as predicted. The following are the refusal strategies used significantly more often by the DARE students: the student says he or she needs to be somewhere else (p<.001), the student suggests an alternative activity (p<.004), and the student says "good-bye" or otherwise indicates departure (p<.003).
Analysis of students' reported use of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs since finishing sixth grade showed that the DARE students used these substances less frequently than did the no DARE students. The overall substance use index showed significant differences between the two groups as did the alcohol index. However, the drug index showed no significant differences between the two groups.
Finally, in terms of sex differences, boys in the DARE group showed less overall substance use than those who had not had the DARE classes (p<.04), while for girls no differences between the two groups were found (p<.04). For the knowledge and attitude index, boys who had been through DARE had more positive scores, while girls who had been through DARE had more negative scores (p<.001). The author concluded by suggesting that although longitudinal evaluations need to be done, the results of this short-term evaluation seem to indicate that Project DARE appears, for the most part, to be achieving its goals. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Substance Use Education
KW - Drug Use Education
KW - Drug Use Prevention
KW - Substance Use Prevention
KW - Education Program
KW - Junior High School
KW - Elementary School
KW - Child Development
KW - School Based
KW - Prevention Program
KW - Program Description
KW - Program Evaluation
KW - Program Effectiveness
KW - California
KW - Juvenile Development
KW - Peer Influence
KW - Alcohol Use Education
KW - Alcohol Use Prevention
KW - Tobacco Use Prevention
KW - Tobacco Use Education
KW - Late Childhood
KW - Early Adolescence
KW - Juvenile Attitudes
KW - Juvenile Perceptions
KW - Child Attitudes
KW - Child Perceptions
KW - Substance Use Perceptions
Language: en |