This article reports on the development, implementation, and evaluation of an alcohol misuse prevention curriculum for tenth‐grade students, using a sample of 1,041 students from four school districts.
The curriculum emphasized social-pressures resistance training, immediate effects of alcohol, risks of alcohol misuse, and social pressures to misuse alcohol. There were desirable program effects on alcohol misuse prevention knowledge (p<0.001), alcohol misuse (p<0.02), and refusal skills (p<0.09). Gender by occasion differences were found on alcohol use, alcohol misuse, and driving after drinking, with boys' rates increasing more than those of girls. Exposure of the program to sixth‐grade students did not result in better outcomes. Despite high levels of alcohol use among high school students, a tenth‐grade curriculum can result in some desirable effects. Creative approaches are needed, however, especially for boys who tend to use and misuse alcohol at rates that increase more steeply than those of girls. (publisher abstract modified)