Single vs. multiple drug prevention: is more always better?: a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a single drug, i.e., alcohol, against a multiple drug preventive intervention.


METHODS
A controlled trial was conducted with 448 8th grade students (mean age = 13 years old) from an inner-city middle school (n = 216) and a rural junior high school (n = 232) in 2000-2001. Students were randomized within school, and 3-month post-intervention follow-up data were collected.


RESULTS
Two risk/protective factors were found to differ significantly in favor of youth receiving the single drug alcohol intervention (p's = 0.03), while the frequency of alcohol use and two additional risk/protective factors approached significance (p's < 0.10).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings support the potential efficacy of a brief, single drug preventive intervention over a brief, multi-drug intervention in producing short-term alcohol outcomes for adolescents, and indicate differential effects of interventions for subgroups of substance using youth.
Werch
Chudley E Chad
CE
Addictive and Health Behaviors Research Institute, University of Florida, 6852 Belfort Oaks Place, Jacksonville, FL 32216, USA. cwerch@hhp.ufl.edu
Moore
Michele M
MM
Diclemente
Carlo C
CC
Owen
Deborah M
DM
Carlson
Joan M
JM
Jobli
Edessa
E
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012424:Rural Population; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population