Preventing substance misuse among Latino youth: A study of mediating processes

描述（由申请人提供）：研究表明，以学校为基础的药物滥用预防计划能够防止药物滥用。然而，预防项目影响药物滥用的机制仍然普遍不清楚。虽然从初中到高中的过渡可能会使高中生有滥用药物的风险，但很少有研究投资于为高中生制定的预防计划及其干预过程。此外，尽管一些调查表明，预防项目影响拉丁裔青年的过程与黑人和白人青年相似，但有证据表明，预防项目影响拉丁裔青年的方式存在差异。特别是，研究表明，文化适应水平可能在这些年轻人对预防计划的反应中发挥重要作用，特别是在考虑到性别的情况下。为了扩大我们对以高中为基础的预防项目的干预机制以及它们如何影响拉丁裔青年的理解，本研究将检查拉丁裔高中生样本中能力的提高和风险因素的降低是否预示着物质使用的减少。本研究旨在：1)检验以学校为基础的九年级预防项目“同伴团体联系”（Peer Group Connection， PGC）在三年内对学生酒精和大麻使用的影响；2)检验对同伴酒精或大麻使用的不赞成、对酒精或大麻使用的信念、个人和社会能力以及学校关系作为项目效应的潜在中介；3)检验性别和文化适应作为项目效应的潜在调节因子。2005年，269名九年级学生（92%为拉丁裔）被随机分为对照组（n = 175）和项目组（n = 94），进行PGC效果的随机对照试验。在训练有素的指导老师的监督下，训练有素的高年级学生将PGC为期一年的以活动为基础的课程，每周以40分钟的时间传授给新生小组。收集了四波调查数据：基线、测试后、一年随访和两年随访。数据将使用潜在增长曲线分析来模拟潜在结果和中介因素的个体变化。对预防方案如何有助于减少拉丁裔青少年药物滥用的发生率和进展的更好理解可能对未来的预防方法有影响。因此，这项研究符合NIDA的目标，即“防止那些已经开始使用药物的人开始使用药物并升级为成瘾”。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Research has shown that school-based drug abuse prevention programs are able to prevent substance misuse. The mechanisms through which prevention programs impact substance misuse, however, remain generally unclear. While it is likely that factors related to the transition from middle school to high school place high school youth at risk for substance misuse, few studies have invested prevention programs developed for high school youth and their intervening processes. Moreover, although a few investigations suggest that prevention programs impact Latino youth via similar processes as Black and White youth, there is some evidence to suggest that there are differences in how prevention programs influence Latino youth. In particular, research suggest that level of acculturation may play an important role in how these youth respond to prevention programs, especially when gender is considered. To broaden our understanding of the intervening mechanisms of high school-based prevention programs and how they influence Latino youth, the proposed study will examine whether increased competencies and reduced risk factors predict reduced growth in substance use in a Latino sample of high school students. This study aims to: 1) examine the impact of a school-based ninth grade prevention program, Peer Group Connection (PGC), on students' alcohol and marijuana use over three years, 2) examine disapproval of peers' alcohol or marijuana use, beliefs about alcohol or marijuana use, personal and social competencies, and school bonding as potential mediators of program effects, and 3) examine gender and acculturation as potential moderators of program effects. In 2005, 269 ninth grade students (92% Latino) were randomized to the control (n = 175) and program (n = 94) conditions of a randomized controlled trial examining the effects of PGC. Under the supervision of trained advisors, trained upperclassmen delivered PGC's year-long, activity-based curriculum to small groups of freshmen during weekly forty-minute sessions. Four waves of survey data were collected: baseline, post-test, one-year follow-up, and two-year follow-up. Data will be analyzed using latent growth curve analysis to model individual change in the potential outcomes and mediators. An improved understanding of how prevention programs contribute to reductions in the incidence and progression of Latino youth's substance abuse may have implications for future preventative approaches. Thus, this study is in line with NIDA's goal "to prevent the initiation of drug use and the escalation to addiction in those who have already initiated use." PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: In the Unites States, underage drinking accounts for over $60 billion in public health costs each year, including $5.4 billion a year in medical care costs due to traffic crashes, violent crime, suicide attempts and other related negative outcomes (Miller, Levy, Spicer et al, 2006). The public health costs increase substantially when drug related incidents among high school age youth are included. There is a need to examine drug abuse prevention programming among Latino/a youth, because they are more likely than Black and White youth to have ridden with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, to have drunk alcohol on school grounds, and to have used cocaine, heroin or ecstasy (CDC, 2008).