Premium
Voluntary After‐School Alcohol and Drug Programs for Middle School Youth: If You Build it Right , They Will Come
Author(s) -
D'Amico Elizabeth J.,
Green Harold D.,
Miles Jeremy N.V.,
Zhou Annie J.,
Tucker Joan S.,
Shih Regina A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2012.00782.x
Subject(s) - psychology , turnover , drug prevention , illicit drug , criminology , medical education , social psychology , pedagogy , drug , substance abuse , psychiatry , medicine , management , economics
Few after‐school programs target alcohol and other drug ( AOD ) use because it is difficult to encourage a diverse group of youth to voluntarily attend. The current study describes CHOICE , a voluntary after‐school program which targeted AOD use among middle school students. Over 4,000 students across eight schools completed surveys and 15% participated in CHOICE . Analyses indicated that there were some differences between CHOICE participants and nonparticipants. For example, African American and multiethnic students were more likely to attend. Past month alcohol users were more likely to initially attend, and marijuana users were more likely to continue attendance. Thus, CHOICE reached students of different racial and ethnic groups and attracted higher risk youth who may not typically obtain prevention services.