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Enlisting Peer Cooperation in the Service of Alcohol Use Prevention in Middle School
Author(s) -
Van Ryzin Mark J.,
Roseth Cary J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12981
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , psychology , alcohol , intervention (counseling) , peer group , developmental psychology , social psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , biochemistry , chemistry
This article reports on a cluster randomized trial of cooperative learning (CL) as a way to prevent escalation in alcohol use during middle school ( N = 1,460 seventh‐grade students, age 12–13, seven intervention and eight control schools). We hypothesized that CL, by bringing students together in group‐based learning activities using positive interdependence, would interrupt the process of deviant peer clustering, provide at‐risk youth with prosocial influences, and in turn, reduce escalations in alcohol use. Results indicated that CL significantly reduced growth in deviant peer affiliation and actual alcohol use, and effects for willingness to use alcohol were at the threshold of significance ( p = .05). CL also attenuated the link between willingness to use alcohol and later alcohol use.