Abstract: A Gender-Specific, Web-Based Intervention to Prevent Drug Abuse Among Adolescent Girls (Society for Prevention Research 24th Annual Meeting)

632 A Gender-Specific, Web-Based Intervention to Prevent Drug Abuse Among Adolescent Girls

Schedule:
Friday, June 3, 2016
Pacific B/C (Hyatt Regency San Francisco)
* noted as presenting author
Traci M. Schwinn, PhD, Research Scientist, Columbia University, New York, NY
Jessica Hopkins, MPH, Project Manager, Columbia University, New York, NY
Steven Schinke, PhD, Professor, Columbia University, New York, NY
Bryan Keller, PhD, Assistant Professor of Applied Statistics, Teachers College, New York, NY
Xiang Liu, MA, RA, Teachers College, New York, NY
Introduction: Though adolescent drug use has generally declined or plateaued over the past decade, a detailed exam of female adolescent drug use is worrisome. Girls’ drug use often meets and in some cases surpasses boys’ use, particularly in early adolescence. Adolescent girls have a proclivity for particular drugs and their unique risk and protective factors warrant a gender-specific approach to prevention. A web-based drug abuse prevention program has the potential to reach girls where they socialize and spend much of their free time.

Methods: Study participants are a nationwide sample adolescent girls (N = 788), aged 13 and 14 years, who were recruited through Facebook advertising. All girls completed pretest measures online. One-half of girls were randomly assigned to the intervention arm – a 9-session, skills-based program. The intervention sessions were embedded in a website with the features that girls seek: entertainment news, health and beauty tips, horoscopes, inspirational quotes, chat boards, and polls. Following intervention delivery, girls in both arms completed posttest measures online. A third online measurement occasion occurred one year after posttest.

Results: Retention rates were 98% at posttest and 97% at 1-year follow-up. At posttest, and using zero-inflated negative binomial regression for analysis, intervention-arm girls smoked fewer cigarettes (β = -0.775, p = .021) compared to control-arm girls; at 1-year follow-up, intervention-arm girls engaged in less binge drinking (β = -0.730, p = .006) and continued to smoke fewer cigarettes (β = -0.901, p = .007) than control-arm girls.

For secondary risk factors associated with substance use at posttest, intervention-arm girls had higher self-esteem (β = 0.112, p = .013), goal setting (β = 0.089, p = .015), media literacy (β = 0.122, p < .0001), and self-efficacy (β = 0.120), p = .002) compared to girls in the control arm. At one-year follow-up, and compared to girls in the control arm, intervention-arm girls had higher alcohol refusal skills (β = 0.218, p = .001), cigarette refusal skills (β = 0.161, p = .008), marijuana refusal skills (β = 0.183, p = .013), coping skills (β = 0.110, p = .004), and media literacy (β = 0.082, p = .022), as well as lower rates of peer substance use (β = -0.602, p = .007).

Conclusion: Posttest and one-year follow-up data support the use of a tailored, web-based intervention to reduce adolescent girls’ drug use rates and improve their related drug use risk factors.