GAO-03-172R Youth Illicit Drug Use Prevention
6
Evaluation/date of
article
Sample description Measures Prevention outcome
2. The Effectiveness of
Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (Project
DARE): 5-Year Follow-
Up, 1996
Location:
Lexington, Kentucky
In the 5-year follow-up to the
1991 study, students were
surveyed each year during the
sixth through tenth grades.
The sample size at the 5-year
follow-up, when students were
in the tenth grade, was 858, or
about 55 percent of the
baseline for the intervention
group and 285, or about 55
percent, for the control group.
Past year use of
illicit drugs.
Nonbehavioral
measures included
attitudes towards
drugs, peer pressure
resistance, and
perceived peer
substance use.
No statistically significant
differences were observed
between intervention and
control groups on marijuana use
1 year after the intervention and
at the 5-year follow-up.
Although, significant positive
DARE effects were observed
during the seventh grade (about
1 year after the intervention) for
measures of students’ attitudes
towards drugs, capability to
resist peer pressure, and
perceived peer drug use, these
positive effects diminished over
time and were not significant at
the 5-year follow-up.
3. Project DARE: No
Effects at 10-Year
Follow-Up, 1999
Location:
Lexington, Kentucky
Follow-up to the 1991 and
1996 studies. The final sample
consisted of 1,002 young
adults between the ages of 19
and 21,who were in the
original sixth grade sample of
both intervention and control
groups. Seventy-six percent of
the participants had received
DARE lessons.
Lifetime, past year,
and past month use
of marijuana.
Nonbehavioral
measures included
peer pressure
resistance and self-
esteem.
No statistically significant
differences were observed
between the intervention and
control groups for illicit drug
use, peer pressure resistance,
and self-esteem at the 10-year
follow-up.
Colorado Studies
4. Three-Year Follow-up
of Drug Abuse
Resistance Education
(DARE), 1996
Location:
Colorado Springs,
Colorado
The initial sample included 38
elementary schools in
Colorado Springs, Colorado—
21 schools received the DARE
intervention and 17 control
group schools did not. The 3-
year follow-up sample
consisted of 940 ninth grade
survey respondents from the
initial sample of elementary
school students. Excluding
invalid responses, the final
sample consisted of 849 ninth
grade students (497 students
in the intervention group and
352 in the control group).
Use of illicit drugs
and the delay of
experimentation with
illicit drugs.
Nonbehavioral
measures included
self- esteem and
resistance to peer
pressure.
No statistically significant
differences were found between
the intervention and control
groups with regard to illicit drug
use, delay of experimentation
with illicit drugs, self-esteem, or
resistance to peer pressure
after 3 years.
5. Long-Term Impact of
Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE):
Results of a 6-Year
Follow-Up, 1997
Location:
Colorado Springs,
Colorado
Follow-up to the 1996 study.
The 6-year follow-up sample
consisted of 676 twelfth grade
survey respondents from the
initial sample of elementary
school students. Excluding
invalid responses, the final
sample consisted of 620
twelfth grade students (356
students in the intervention
group and 264 students in the
control group).
Use of illicit drugs
and the delay of
experimentation with
illicit drugs.
Nonbehavioral
measures included
self-esteem and
attitudes toward
drug use.
No statistically significant
differences were found between
the intervention and control
groups regarding the use of
marijuana and the delay of
experimentation with illicit
drugs, self esteem, and
attitudes toward drug use, at the
6-year follow-up.