Evaluating the Lions-Quest Skills for Adolescence drug education program: Second-year behavior outcomes.
Eisen, M., Zellman, G. L., & Murray, D. M. (2003). Addictive Behaviors, 28, 883–897.
-
examining5,462Students, grades6-8
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence Intervention Report - Character Education
Review Details
Reviewed: September 2006
- Randomized controlled trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Please see the WWC summary of evidence for Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Binge drinking - last 30 days |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8: baseline binge drinkers;
|
73.00 |
63.00 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Marijuana use - last 30 days |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8;
|
88.68 |
86.21 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Marijuana use - lifetime |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8;
|
72.76 |
69.50 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Alcohol use: Last 30 days |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8;
|
77.15 |
76.82 |
No |
-- | |
|
Other illicit substances use - last 30 days |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8;
|
93.11 |
93.02 |
No |
-- | |
|
Binge drinking - last 30 days |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8: baseline nonbinge drinkers;
|
88.00 |
88.00 |
No |
-- | |
|
Alcohol use: Lifetime |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8;
|
33.03 |
33.67 |
No |
-- | |
|
Cigarettes smoking - lifetime |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8;
|
72.00 |
72.50 |
No |
-- | |
|
Other illicit substances use - lifetime |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8;
|
81.05 |
81.56 |
No |
-- | |
|
Cigarettes smoking - last 30 days |
Lions Quest -- Skills for Adolescence vs. business as usual |
Posttest |
Grade 8;
|
87.53 |
88.52 |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
-
Female: 52%
Male: 48% -
Urban
-
- B
- A
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- I
- H
- J
- K
- L
- P
- M
- N
- O
- Q
- R
- S
- V
- U
- T
- W
- X
- Z
- Y
- a
- h
- i
- b
- d
- e
- f
- c
- g
- j
- k
- l
- m
- n
- o
- p
- q
- r
- s
- t
- u
- v
- x
- w
- y
California, District of Columbia, Maryland, Michigan
-
Race Asian 7% Black 18% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 34% Not Hispanic or Latino 66%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in 34 middle schools from four school districts located in three large metropolitan areas (Los Angeles–Long Beach, California; Detroit–Wayne County, Michigan; and Washington, DC–Baltimore, Maryland).
Study sample
Participants of this study included 7,426 students who were followed from sixth through eighth grade. Female students comprised 52% of the sample. The distribution of minority students was as follows: 34% Hispanic, 18% African-American, and 7% Asian-American.
Intervention Group
A one-semester, 40-session Skills for Adolescence curriculum was implemented in English or Spanish in the intervention schools. Each session lasted 35–45 minutes. No information was provided on implementation fidelity other than that teachers were required to schedule and teach 8 of the 40 sessions that included drug prevention components, knowing that they may be observed by project staff and consenting to this observation.1
Comparison Group
The comparison group “received their usual drug education programming” and were left to the discretion of the teachers at each school. A range of drug prevention programs and related practices were implemented in the comparison schools, including school assemblies, teacher-devised classroom curricula, and exposure to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. The comparison schools were promised implementation of Skills for Adolescence once the final follow-up data were collected.
Outcome descriptions
Outcome measures examined student self-reported cigarette smoking and alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drug use prevalence rates. (See Appendix A2 for more detailed descriptions of outcome measures.)
Support for implementation
The teachers attended a three-day workshop conducted by Quest International certified trainers and received teacher manuals and workbooks for each of their students.
Additional Sources
In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.
-
Eisen, M., Zellman, G. L., Massett, H. A., & Murray, D. M. (2002). Evaluating the Lions-Quest Skills for Adolescence drug education program: First-year behavior outcomes. Addictive Behaviors, 27, 619-632.
-
Eisen, M. (2002). Intermediate outcomes from a life skills education program with a media literacy component. In Crano, W. D., & Burgoon, M. (Eds.) Mass media and drug prevention: Classic and contemporary theories and research. (pp. 187–214). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).