Withdrawn: The Effectiveness of a Universal Resiliency Training ‘Op Volle Kracht' in Reducing Substance Use and Promoting School Performance: A Longitudinal Study

Introduction: Fostering positive school development and reducing substance use during adolescence is of vital importance. In the Netherlands, a universal school-based resiliency training Op Volle Kracht (OVK) was developed, based on the Penn Resiliency Program (Gillham, Reivich, & Jaycox, 2008). The main goal of OVK is to prevent depression in youth, therefore a large, universal evaluation of OVK was conducted. Effects on depression (the primary outcome) have been reported in prior presentations. In addition to preventing depression, we expected to see improved functioning in critical life domains. In this presentation we will report effects on several indicators of adaptive functioning, including, truancy, substance use (alcohol and smoking), school performance, and quality of peer relationships.

Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial was performed with an intervention (OVK) condition and a control condition (lessons as usual) to assess the effectiveness of OVK in a sample of 1341 adolescents (Mage = 13.91, SD = .55, boys 52.2%). Trained psychologists administered the intervention program. Measures were conducted at baseline, post, one year, 18 months, and two years follow-up. OVK is a universal school-based cognitive behavioral program targeting thinking styles, coping, social skills and problem solving. Prevention effects were analyzed with latent growth curve modeling to assess if the intervention group differed from the control group in changes over time in the outcome variables. Both completer-only and intention-to-treat analyses will be presented. (Trial registration number: NTR2879).

Results: The LGCM completer-only analyses showed that condition did not predict the intercept or slope of alcohol use, smoking, truancy, school grades, or quality of peer relationships. For quality of peer relationships school level did predict the slope (β1 = .21, p < .001), which means that adolescents in higher school levels had higher quality of peer relationships. Age did predict the intercept and slope of truancy (β0 = .19, p < .001; β1 = -.12, p = .003). This indicates that older adolescents displayed more truancy, but the increase of truancy was less steep for older adolescents. Age did predict the intercept of alcohol use in the past 4 weeks (β0 = .16, p < .001). This indicates that older adolescents drank more alcohol in the past 4 weeks.

Conclusions: The current study shows that universal resiliency training did not prevent the increase of alcohol use and smoking, nor did it promote school grades or school relationships. Implications for future research and universal resiliency programs will be discussed.