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Results of an Alcohol Prevention Program with Urban American Indian Youth

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Abstract

In comparing alcohol use among American Indian and non-Indian youth, the age at first involvement with alcohol is younger for Indians, the frequency and amount of drinking are greater, and the negative consequences are more common. This article presents the results of an innovative alcohol prevention program for urban Indian youth, blending mainstream prevention approaches with culturally appropriate intervention. A quasi-experimental treatment/non-equivalent control group research design was used to evaluate the Seventh Generation Program, comparing scores over time on measures assessing alcohol beliefs as well as decision-making, social support, locus of control, self-concept, depression, and ethnic identity. Results of repeated measures analysis revealed significant effects for treatment in the areas of alcohol beliefs, social support, locus of control and depression.

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Notes

  1. It should be noted that data were collected on past and current alcohol use with questions patterned after those found in the Children’s Drug Use Survey (Oetting, Edwards, and Beauvais, 1985). However, these data appeared to have little reliability or validity. For example, the number of children in the intervention group that indicated past alcohol use went down from 35 to 26 from pretest to posttest. Of the 35 who answered “yes” at pretest, only 12 indicated past use on the posttest. Because of this lack of consistency in these data, alcohol use was not included in the analyses for this article.

  2. Children in the both the Intervention and Comparison groups showed significant positive change on the intellectual/school status, anxiety, and happiness/satisfaction subscales, but with no added significant effect of intervention. Neither group showed significant change on the behavior or popularity subscales. The only subscale with a significant group by time effect was physical appearance/attributes, F(2,164) = 3.07, p < .05, with scores for children in the intervention group showing more improvement over time.

  3. Using Repeated Measures ANOVA with three treatment conditions by time––original program (n = 38), original program plus booster sessions (n = 69), and comparison group––additional significant effects were found for two of the scales. The pattern of scores over time on the depression scale showed more improvement for children attending the booster sessions, F(4,326) = 2.57, p < .05, as did scores on social support, F(4,326) = 3.63, p < .01. Since the 69 children who attended the booster sessions were self-selected, pretest scores and demographics for the two intervention subgroups were compared. The subgroups did not differ significantly on any of the demographic variables nor in number of sessions attended. While there were no significant pretest differences on five of the seven outcome variables, children who came to the booster sessions did score significantly higher at pretest on decision-making, overall self concept and two self-concept subscales––school and appearance. However, since their pretest scores on depression and social support did not differ significantly, the findings for those two scales suggest an additional positive effect of the booster sessions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grant number R01AA09442.

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Correspondence to James R. Moran Ph.D..

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James R. Moran is Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA.

Marian Bussey is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA.

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Moran , J.R., Bussey , M. Results of an Alcohol Prevention Program with Urban American Indian Youth. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 24, 1–21 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-006-0049-6

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