Family, School, Peer and Individual Influences on Early Adolescent Alcohol Use: First-Year Impact of the Resilient Families Programme

• NCJ Number: 220804
• Journal: Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 26 Issue: 6 Dated: November 2007 Pages: 625-634
• Author(s): Alison L. Shortt; Delyse M. Hutchinson; Rianna Chapman; John W. Toumbourou
• Date Published: November 2007
• Length: 10 pages
• Grant Number(s): 251721
• Sponsoring Agency: National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC); Australian Dept of Health and Ageing; Australian Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

This study examined the feasibility of preventing adolescent alcohol use by modifying family factors during secondary school.

Abstract

The results found that intervention during the 8th grade appeared to benefit education-related outcomes, but had no overall effect in reducing student alcohol use; intervention effects on alcohol misuse might become significant in secondary school once the entire program has been fully implemented. Considerable alcohol use was detected in early secondary school, suggesting that interventions to reduce alcohol use may be useful implemented prior to this period. Influences within the family, school, peer group, and individual were examined together with the potential impact of an intervention program called "Resilient Families" (RF); 24 schools in Melbourne, Australia were randomly assigned to either the RF intervention group or a control group. At the start of secondary school, one-third of students reported alcohol use. Baseline cohorts of 2,315 seventh grade students were followed up 1 year later; a subset of parents also returned baseline surveys; at the one year followup, almost half the students reported using alcohol. In regression analyses, predicting from parent-reported variables to student-reported alcohol use, significant multivariate effects were observed for a number of family factors including protective effects associated with parent attendance at brief parental education and involvement in school education. Exposure to the first-year components of RF intervention predicted a number of improvements in student evaluations of their educational and family environment. However, the high level of alcohol use observed at entry to secondary school together with the strong predictive influence of individual and peer alcohol and tobacco use, suggest that family-based interventions might need to be supplemented with prevention programs prior to entry to secondary schools if they are to succeed in preventing adolescent alcohol use. Tables, references