Immediate Impact of Social Influence-Oriented Substance Abuse Prevention Curricula in Traditional and Continuation High Schools

SUMMARY This study examines the immediate impact of nine social influence-oriented activities on drug related knowledge and beliefs for students at six traditional and six continuation high schools from the same southern California school districts. The relative effectiveness of two program delivery methods (active versus passive) also was examined. Continuation high school students reported much higher levels of overall drug use. Across school type, the activities showed the most impact on knowledge change. The activities exerted a relatively greater impact on traditional high school students and when the active delivery mode was used. Potential limitations of the effectiveness of social influences-oriented substance abuse prevention programming with continuation high school youth are discussed.