Goals and Objectives :: Goal A :: The Research

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Information is necessary for prevention. This is supported by a body of research. In the May/June 1995 Journal of Health Education article, "Effectiveness of Drug Education Components: Knowledge, Attitudes, Decision Making, Motivations, and Self-Esteem." Scott W.Roberts states that " . . . there was a significant positive correlation between decision making and knowledge/attitudes. This relationship lends support to the premise that if one is supplied with correct knowledge, one will make correct decisions." However, information must be presented in certain ways to be effective. Roberts goes on to say that " . . . peer influences may be stronger than knowledge. This is not to discount knowledge, but the effect of peer influences must also be addressed." When information is provided to youth in their peer groups, such as in their regular classes at school, its effectiveness is increased.

Information that is personally relevant and focused on meeting immediate needs or making immediate decisions is more likely to be effective. This is supported in the September 1989 American Psychologist ("Risk Behaviors and Health: Contrasting Individual and Population Perspectives"), Robert W. Jeffery determined that people tended to overvalue threats associated with short-term risks and that they focused more on specific personal risks rather than general risks to the population. Jeffery concluded that interventions on individuals were likely to be more effective when the reinforcement--as well as the punishment--was personal and immediate.

William H. Bruvold ("A Meta-Analysis of the California School-Based Risk Reduction Program," in the Journal of Drug Education, 20, 2, 1990) found that information interventions had an impact on knowledge, but alternative interventions had an impact on attitudes and behaviors. D. Olweus, in "Bullying at School: Basic Facts and Effects of a School-Based Intervention Program" (Journal of Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 7, 1994), found that effective intervention comprises a warm, positive school and home environment; firm limits; and consistent, nonhostile, nonphysical sanctions. Otherwise, information is limited in the amount of attitude and behavior change produced by an intervention. A similar assertion that information alone is insufficient for prevention comes from Phyllis L. Ellickson and Robert M. Bell, in their article "Drug Prevention in Junior High: A Multi-Site Longitudinal Test" (Science, March 1990).