Does learning about the effects of alcohol on the developing brain affect children's alcohol use?

Protecting You/Protecting Me (PY/PM) is a classroom-based, alcohol-use prevention and vehicle safety program for students in grades 1-5 developed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). PY/PM is one of the first alcohol prevention programs targeting children that incorporates emerging research on the adverse effects of alcohol on the developing brain. In this study, we surveyed fifth grade students, some of whom were exposed to their fifth consecutive year of PY/PM implementation. Results indicate that, relative to comparison students from matched schools, PY/PM students increased their knowledge of the effects of alcohol on the developing brain, their perception of the potential harm of alcohol use, and their vehicle safety skills. PY/PM students also exhibited increased negative attitudes toward underage drinking, increased their intentions not to use alcohol, and reported decreased riding with an impaired driver. PY/PM did not have an effect on alcohol use per se of these fifth graders. Path modeling revealed that knowledge of the effects of alcohol on the developing brain had both a direct and an indirect effect on alcohol use, the latter by increasing perceptions of the harm of underage alcohol use which, in turn affected intentions to use and use itself. Teaching children about the effects of alcohol on the developing brain appears to be a promising strategy for underage alcohol use prevention.

Implementation fidelity in a teacher-led alcohol use prevention curriculum.

There is now ample evidence that teachers tend to make substantial modifications to both the prescribed content and methods of the curricula they administer, and that such modifications are likely to attenuate curricula effects. We examine the fidelity with which teachers implement "Protecting You, Protecting Me," an underage alcohol use prevention curriculum. Findings suggest that while teachers attempted to implement most sections of a lesson, the lessons taught were consistently--and often extensively--adapted. We conclude that since teachers are likely to continue to modify lessons, curriculum developers and trainers should enhance their understanding of how prevention curricula are taught under real world conditions, help teachers to reinforce key curriculum concepts, and consider modifying those curricular sections that teachers are adapting with greatest frequency.

Mobilizing communities for teen pregnancy prevention: associations between coalition characteristics and perceived accomplishments.

PURPOSE: To describe coalition membership, examine associations between coalition processes and short-term coalition outcomes, and assess the relative contribution of key coalition processes to perceived accomplishments in teen pregnancy prevention coalitions. METHODS: A self-administered survey was distributed to active members of 21 teen pregnancy prevention coalitions in 13 communities. The overall response rate was 67%, with 471 surveys returned. Process measures included staff competence, member influence in decision making, and coalition functioning. Short-term outcome measures included perceived accomplishments, member satisfaction, member participation, and coalition viability. RESULTS: About 50% of coalition members represented health or teen pregnancy prevention or youth development service organizations, with 13% participating primarily as residents or youth. None of the process measures were associated with coalition viability (defined as active 2 years post-survey). Many bivariate associations between coalition processes and other short-term outcomes were significant at the individual and coalition levels of analysis. In a multivariate random coefficients model, coalition functioning (p <.001) and member influence in decision making (p = .019) were significantly associated with perceived coalition accomplishments. CONCLUSION: Consistent with research on coalitions that have addressed other health issues, good coalition processes were associated with short-term indicators of effectiveness in these teen pregnancy prevention coalitions. Coalition processes were not associated with coalition viability 2 years post-survey, however, suggesting that other factors influence coalition survival.

Protecting you/protecting me: effects of an alcohol prevention and vehicle safety program on elementary students.

This paper describes an evaluation of Protecting You/Protecting Me (PY/PM), a classroom-based, alcohol-use prevention and vehicle safety program for elementary students in first through fifth grades developed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. PY/PM lessons and activities focus on teaching children about (I) their brains (why their brain is important, how their brain continues to develop throughout childhood and adolescence, what alcohol does to the developing brain, and why it is important to protect their brain); (2) vehicle safety (what to do to protect themselves should they ever ride with an impaired driver); and (3) life skills (decision making, stress management, and media literacy). Fourth- and fifth-grade students from schools in the fourth year of PY/PM implementation were surveyed. Results indicated that, relative to comparison students from matched schools, PY/PM students increased their knowledge of alcohol's effect on development; gained decision-making, stress-management, and vehicle safety skills; and demonstrated changes in attitudes toward underage alcohol use and its harm. Further, students retained lessons learned in previous years and their scores improved with increased exposure to PY/PM. In addition, the findings demonstrate that it is possible to design and implement a program that can improve young children's knowledge regarding alcohol and their developing brains, teach them skills to protect themselves in dangerous situations, increase already high antialcohol attitudes, and change perceptions of alcohol's harmfulness.

Effects on high school students of teaching a cross-age alcohol prevention program.

This study examined the impact on high school students who taught elementary students MADD's Protecting You/Protecting Me (PY/PM), an alcohol use prevention and vehicle safety program. High school students (N = 188) enrolled in a peer helping course completed surveys before and after teaching PY/PM, and a comparison group of peer helper students (N = 141) from matched schools completed surveys at the same times. Results indicated that, relative to the comparison group, those exposed to PY/PM gained knowledge of alcohol's effects, increased their perceptions of the risks of high levels of alcohol use, gained teaching skills, and showed less frequent episodes of binge drinking. No effects were found for attitudes toward future drinking, perceptions of the risk of low levels of alcohol use, alcohol use, or vehicle safety. This cross-age prevention program may be successful in changing high school students' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding high levels, but not low levels, of alcohol use.