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Guide
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LIFESKILLS TRAINING (LST)
OVERVIEW
LifeSkills® Training (LST) is a school-based drug use prevention program that was established in the late 1970s (Botvin, 1998). The program lasts for a total of three years, and incorporates interactive learning, social skills building, and specific drug use prevention-related information. It promotes anti-drug norms, and it fosters the development of personal self-management skills such as decision making, problem solving, goal setting and coping with anxiety (National Health Promotion Associates, Inc., 2002a). Experimental evaluations show that impacts of Life Skills Training include lower rates of cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use compared with youth who were not in the program. LST has been experimentally evaluated—and shown to be effective—for Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian student populations. It had impacts on urban, suburban, and rural populations.
Target population:
LST has an elementary school version as well as a middle school version. As most evaluations of LST have been conducted at the middle school level, this description focuses on the middle school version of LST.
LST is designed for all students regardless of their previous drug use or risk level. The program lasts for three years—an initial program year followed by two years of booster sessions. The program has three major components. The first component teaches general self-management skills, including analyzing problems and reducing stress and anxiety. The second component covers general social skills, such as overcoming shyness and communicating effectively. The final component of the program covers drug resistance skills, such as the ability to challenge misconceptions about drug use and the ability to resist media pressures to use drugs. The three components are covered in the first year of the program and reinforced through the second and third year booster sessions (Botvin, 1998; National Health Promotion Associates, Inc., 2002c).
A variety of instruction methods are used in delivery of LST. The skills are taught using both instruction and demonstration. Skills are broken down into steps and are demonstrated through a video or the instructor. Students are also given the opportunity to practice the skills they have learned. Feedback and encouragement are used to help the students improve their skill use. Finally, extended practice is used in the form of homework assignments (Botvin, 1998).
The program also features an optional violence prevention component that adds three sessions in the first year, two sessions in the second year and two sessions in the third year (National Health Promotion Associates, Inc., 2002b).
LST can be taught by health professionals from outside the school, older peer leaders, or regular classroom teachers. All program providers are trained during a one- or two-day workshop. The workshop, which is delivered through videotape or live instruction, allows program providers to learn and practice the skills needed to provide the program. The LST program does not follow up with providers to ensure the program is administered with fidelity or provide booster training sessions (Botvin, 1998).
Number of children/teens in program: 25,000 classrooms in 3,000 schools use LST. In total, the LST program is currently serving approximately 1 million children in elementary and middle schools. (Numbers come from personal communication.)
Length: 30 sessions implemented over three years.
Intensity: Each lesson is approximately 45 minutes long. The length of time between sessions varies from one day to one week. The first 15 sessions are given in year one, the next 10 sessions are given in year two, and the last five sessions are given in year three.
Service delivery mode: The program is implemented in the classroom and can be linked to any classroom subject matter. Although classroom teachers usually teach the program, outside providers and older peer leaders have also implemented LST.
The cost of materials is:
$625 for the middle school set, which includes a teacher manual and 30 student guides,
$275 for grades 6-7,
$225 for grades 7-8, and
$175 for grades 8-9.
Spoth, R. L., Redmond, C., Trudeau, L. & Shin, C. (2002). Longitudinal substance initiation outcomes for a universal preventive intervention combining family and school programs. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16(2), 129-134.
Evaluated population: Seventh-graders in 36 randomly-selected rural schools in the Midwestern US were evaluated.
Approach: Schools were matched and randomly assigned to one of three study groups: LST, LST plus the Strengthening Families Program, and a control condition. Twelve schools were randomly assigned to receive the LST program only, 12 schools were randomly assigned to receive the LST program and the Strengthening Families program, and 12 schools were randomly assigned to a control group. Students in the experimental groups were given a 15-session teacher-instructed LST program in seventh grade and five booster sessions in eighth grade. Students received a pre-test several months prior to the intervention and a post-test approximately one month after the intervention with a questionnaire and a “bogus pipeline” breath test.
Results: Results of the study showed that, compared to students in the control group, students in the experimental group that combined LST and Strengthening Families had 30 percent less alcohol initiation and students in the LST group had 4.1 percent less alcohol initiation.
Trudeau, L., Spoth, R., Lillehoj, C., Redmond, C., & Wickrama, K. A. S. (2003). Effects of a Preventive Intervention on Adolescent Substance Use Initiation, Expectancies, and Refusal Intentions. Prevention Science, 4(2), 109-122.
Evaluated population: A rural, Iowa sample of seventh-grade middle school students (N=874) were followed for three years. Students came from 36 schools in the state. Most students were white (97 percent), and 77 percent lived with both biological parents. Twenty-one percent qualified for free or reduced cost lunches.
Approach: See Spoth et al. (2002). The authors measured expectancies, refusal intentions, and substance initiation. Expectancies covered youth’s expectations about the social and personal consequences of substance use for tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol. Refusal intentions captured how likely a respondent would be to say “No”, change the subject, or make up an excuse to leave when asked to try a specific substance. Substance initiation asked respondents whether they had ever smoked, had a drink of alcohol, or used marijuana.
Results: The authors found that the program had a significant impact on the rate of decrease in refusal intentions and the rate of increase in substance initiation. Both findings were favorable to the LST program.
Spoth, R., Trudeau, & L., Shin, C. (2008). Long-term effects of universal preventive interventions on prescription drug misuse. Addiction, 103(7), 1160-1168.
Evaluated population: This is a follow-up of a middle-school intervention in Iowa. The sample was eleventh- and twelfth-grade, public-school students in the rural Midwestern United States. Most families had two parents (87 percent), and 99 percent of the sample was white.
Approach: For more information, see Spoth et al. (2002). The respondents reported their own prescription drug misuse.
Results: The program had no significant impacts on prescription drug misuse.
The authors did not correct for clustering.
Spoth, R. L., Randall, G. K., Trudeau, L., Shin, C. & Redmond, C. (2008). Substance use outcomes 5 ½ years past baseline for partnership-based, family-school preventive interventions. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 96, 57-68.
Evaluated population: Students who had attended one of 36 rural midewestern schools that had been randomly assigned to one of three conditions at baseline (N=1,677).
Approach: This is a 5 ½-year follow-up of an earlier study (see, Spoth et al., 2002). The response rate at follow-up was 74 percent across all conditions.
Results: Here we consider only the differences between LST and the control condition (LST + SFP is considered in another review). In 12th grade, the Substance Initiation Index (alcohol, drunkenness, cigarettes, and marijuana) mean for the control group was significantly higher than the mean of the LST group. The treatment group also had a slower rate of increase across time up to the 12th grade compared with the control group. For alcohol initiation, the LST group did not differ significantly from the control group. Drunkenness initiation had no significant differences in means at 12th grade, although the rate of growth was significantly lower among the LST group. For cigarette initiation, both the 12th grade means and growth had significant findings favoring the experimental condition. For marijuana initiation, the mean of the LST condition was significantly lower than the control condition, but the growth did not significantly differ from the control group. There were no significant findings for the 12th grade mean levels of or the growth of serious substance involvement (frequency of use, monthly poly-substance use, and advanced poly-substance use).
Botvin, G. J., Dusenbury, L., Baker, E., James-Ortiz, S., & Kerner, J. (1989). A skills training approach to smoking prevention among Hispanic youth. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12(3), 279-296.
Evaluated population: Predominately Hispanic (N=471), seventh grade students in eight urban schools in northern New Jersey and New York City were evaluated.
Approach: Four schools were randomly assigned to an experimental group and four schools were randomly assigned to a control group. Students in experimental schools were given a 15-session teacher-led LST program focused on smoking prevention. Students in the control schools did not receive any special interventions above what was usually offered in the schools. Participants were given a pre-test consisting of a self-report questionnaire and a “bogus pipeline” breath test (to induce more honest self-reports). Three and a half months after the end of the 15-session program, students were given the same questionnaire and breath test as a post-test.
Results: The researchers found that students in the experimental condition had greater knowledge of smoking consequences and had less self-reported smoking behavior, compared with control students.
Botvin, G. J., Batson, H.W., Witts-Vitale, S., Bess, V., Baker, E. & Dusenbury, L. (1989). A psychosocial approach to smoking prevention for urban black youth. Public Health Reports, 104(6), 573-582.
Evaluated population: Seventh grade students (N=520) in nine schools were evaluated. The sample was 86 percent black, one percent white, ten percent Hispanic, and two percent “other race.” A plurality lived with their two parents (47 percent), while 43 percent lived with their mother only. Fifty-four percent were female and 46 percent were male. For this study, the analysis was limited to the African Americans (447 youth).
Approach: Schools were randomly assigned to either a control group (N=6 schools) or an experimental group (N=3 schools). The follow-up response rate among students in the schools was 86 percent. Students in the experimental condition were given a 12-session, teacher-led LST program focused on smoking prevention. The students’ knowledge, attitudes and norms, skills, and personality were measured.
Results: The researchers found that experimental students were 56 percent less likely to self-report smoking within the last month at the end of the 12-session intervention. The treatment group students were more likely to report correct responses on knowledge of smoking consequences and on accurate adult smoking prevalence, compared with the control group.
The program did not have impacts on the following: measures of social acceptability, anti-smoking attitudes, peer prevalence of smoking, decision-making skills, assertiveness skills, self-efficacy, self-esteem, home personality, peer personality, or school personality.
No corrections were made for clustering of the data.
Botvin, G. J., Eng, A. & Williams, C. L. (1980). Preventing the onset of cigarette smoking through Life Skills Training. Preventive Medicine, 11(2), 199-211.
Evaluated population: 3,597 predominately white former program participants in 56 New York schools were evaluated. In total, 2,455 students were in the experimental groups and 1,142 students were in the control group.
Approach: Both experimental groups used teachers to implement LST. One experimental group trained teachers through a one-day formal workshop and the other experimental group trained teachers through videotapes. Students from experimental schools in this study received a 15-session LST program in their seventh grade year (1985), 10 booster sessions in their eighth grade year, and five booster sessions in their ninth grade year.
Results: The long-term effects data were collected at the end of the students’ twelfth grade year (in 1991). Data were collected through the mail, telephone, or in-school surveys. The researchers found that participants in the two experimental groups had lower rates of cigarette use when compared with the control group. Experimental students also had lower rates of heavy drinking as well as lower rates of marijuana use than students in the control group. Overall, students in the experimental group were 44 percent less likely than control students to self-report using tobacco, alcohol, or marijuana, and were 66 percent less likely to self-report using all three drugs. There were no major differences between the two experimental groups.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Dunesbury, L., Botvin, E. M. & Diaz, T. (1995). Long-term follow-up results of a randomized drug abuse prevention trial in a white middle-class population. Journal of the American Medical Association, 273(14), 1106-1112.
Approach: In this six-year follow-up study, Botvin, Baker and others (1995) studied the long-term effects of an earlier LST intervention (Botvin et al, 1980). The schools in this intervention had been randomly assigned to a control group (N=22) or one of two treatment groups. Eighteen schools were assigned to participate in the LST program that had a formal one day training workshop for teachers and provided feedback by project staff; an additional 16 schools were assigned to participate in the LST training through video tapes with no project staff feedback. The intervention focused on teaching information and skills for resisting social pressures to use drugs and general personal and social skills to promote the development of characteristics associated with decreased drug use. Those in the two prevention groups received further instruction during their eighth (ten sessions) and ninth (five sessions) grade years.
Results: This intervention had positive long-term effects on reducing drug use for both of the intervention groups. Monthly cigarette smoking was significantly lower for students in both intervention groups and also lower for weekly use among the intervention without feedback group compared with the control group. Heavy cigarette smoking and problem drinking were also significantly lower for one intervention group. Monthly alcohol use was significantly lower in the two intervention groups, compared with the control group. Weekly polydrug use (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana), and weekly combined tobacco and marijuana use were significantly lower for the two intervention groups, compared with the control group.
Botvin, G. J., Griffin, K. W., Diaz, T., Scheier, L. M., Williams, C., & Epstein, J. A. (2000). Preventing illicit drug use in adolescents: Long-term follow-up data from a randomized control trial of a school population. Addictive Behaviors, 25, 769-774.
Evaluated population: Questionnaires were sent by mail to individuals at the end of twelfth grade (6.5 years after baseline) who received the LST program in junior high; 447 replied of a subsample of students asked to answer questions on illicit drug use other than marijuana. The sample examined here is 92.3 percent white, 40 percent male, with a mean age of 18.1 years, and with 82.5 percent living in two-parent families.
Approach: See Botvin et al. (1995) for information on randomization. The questionnaire asked how often the respondent had ever used any of 13 different drug types, which were collapsed into eight categories: marijuana, cocaine, inhalants, nonmedical pill use, heroin and other narcotics, hallucinogens, total illicit substance use, and total illicit substances other than marijuana.
Results: The intervention group (compared with the control group) had a significantly lower mean number of times having used these drugs: heroin and other narcotics, hallucinogens, total illicit substance use, and total illicit substances other than marijuana. The program did not have an impact on marijuana, cocaine, inhalants, or nonmedical pill use.
Griffin, K. W., Botvin, G. J., & Nichols, T. R. (2004). Long-term follow-up effects of a school-based drug abuse prevention program on adolescent risky driving. Prevention Science, 5, 207-212.
Evaluated population: Most of this New York sample was middle-class, suburban and rural, white (91 percent), and lived in two-parent families (86 percent). The median age of students was 18.1 years, with a range from 17.3 to 21.0 years. This included the 2,042 students from the Botvin et al. (1995) studies with DMV record matches.
Approach: See Botvin et al. (1995) for more information. DMV records were matched to students. The authors examined the number of “points” and number of traffic violations. In New York, points remain on the driving record for 18 months from the date of the citation, however, only two percent (N=42) of individuals in the sample had violations on their record not accounted for in their points.
Results: The program was found to have an impact (odds ratio=0.75) on whether someone had points on their license, controlling for gender and alcohol use. The same applies (OR=0.75) to whether one had violations on their record. Someone who was in the program has a 25 percent reduction in the odds of having points on their license. This odds ratio did not accounting for clustering. However, when clustering is controlled for, findings are still significant.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Renick, N. L., Filazzola, A. D. & Botvin, E. M. (1984). A cognitive-behavioral approach to substance abuse prevention. Addictive Behaviors, 9(2), 137-147.
Evaluated population: Mostly white, middle class, seventh grade students (N=1,311) from 10 suburban New York schools were evaluated.
Approach: Another study examined the effect of LST on both alcohol and marijuana use. The ten schools were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a teacher-led LST condition, an older-peer-led (by 10th or 11th graders) LST condition, and a control group. The students reported on their own tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use, and completed cognitive, attitudinal, and personality measures. Saliva samples were collected to encourage honest reporting of substance use. Cognitive measures were 30 true-false items on knowledge of substances and prevalence of use in adults and teens. Attitudinal measures gathered information on students’ views of substances, substance users, and social benefits of tobacco, alcohol, or marijuana use. Aspects of personality measured included assertiveness, locus of control, social anxiety, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-satisfaction, probability of yielding to social pressure to smoke, and general influenceability.
Results: Posttest means comparisons showed that the measure of monthly smoking was lower for the peer-led group, compared with either the teacher-led group or with the control. The teacher-led group, however, did not differ from the control. The measures of monthly marijuana use and weekly marijuana use for the peer-led group each had lower means of use, compared with the teacher-led group and with the control group. In fact, the peer-led program appeared to reduce total marijuana use by 71 percent and weekly or daily use by 83 percent, compared with the control group. Again for the teacher-led group, there was no difference from the control group. Researchers also found students in the peer-led experimental group consumed less alcohol per sitting when compared with students in the control group.
For drug use knowledge and attitudes for each of the three drugs (six measures), the peer-led experimental group had significantly higher scores, compared with the control group, indicating more accurate knowledge and attitudes less conducive to substance use. For the teacher-led group, only the smoking knowledge and marijuana knowledge measures were higher, compared with the control group.
For attitudinal measures, the peer-led group had significant, favorable impacts on anti-smoking, anti-drinking, and anti-marijuana using views, compared with the teacher-led group and compared with the control group.
The personality impacts favorable to the peer-led condition were on locus of control and smoking influenceability. The teacher-led students had significantly higher social anxiety scores.
Subgroup impacts were found for self-esteem. Males in the peer-led condition had significantly higher self-esteem scores than the females in the control condition, the females in the peer-led condition, the females in the teacher-led condition, the males in the control condition, and the males in the teacher-led condition. The impact of the program on self-esteem varied according to the participants’ sex.
Botvin, G. J. (1998). Preventing adolescent drug abuse through Life Skills Training: Theory, methods, and effectiveness. In J. Crane (Ed.) Social Programs That Work (pp. 225-257). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Dunesbury, L., Botvin, E. M. & Diaz, T. (1995). Long-term follow-up results of a randomized drug abuse prevention trial in a white middle-class population. Journal of the American Medical Association, 273(14), 1106-1112.
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Renick, N. L., Filazzola, A. D. & Botvin, E. M. (1984). A cognitive-behavioral approach to substance abuse prevention. Addictive Behaviors, 9(2), 137-147.
Botvin, G. J., Batson, H.W., Witts-Vitale, S., Bess, V., Baker, E. & Dusenbury, L. (1989). A psychosocial approach to smoking prevention for urban black youth. Public Health Reports, 104(6), 573-582.
Botvin, G. J., Dusenbury, L., Baker, E., James-Ortiz, S., & Kerner, J. (1989). A skills training approach to smoking prevention among Hispanic youth. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12(3), 279-296.
Botvin, G. J., Eng, A. & Williams, C. L. (1980). Preventing the onset of cigarette smoking through Life Skills Training. Preventive Medicine, 11(2), 199-211.
Botvin, G. J., Griffin, K. W., Diaz, T., Scheier, L. M., Williams, C., & Epstein, J. A. (2000). Preventing illicit drug use in adolescents: Long-term follow-up data from a randomized control trial of a school population. Addictive Behaviors, 25, 769-774.
Griffin, K. W., Botvin, G. J., & Nichols, T. R. (2004). Long-term follow-up effects of a school-based drug abuse prevention program on adolescent risky driving. Prevention Science, 5, 207-212.
National Health Promotion Associates, Inc. (2002a). Frequently asked questions about the Life Skills Training program. Retrieved Aug 21, 2002 from http://www.lifeskillstraining.com/faq.cfm
National Health Promotion Associates, Inc. (2002b). Life Skills Training program structure. Retrieved Aug 21, 2002 from http://www.lifeskillstraining.com/program_structure1.cfm
National Health Promotion Associates, Inc. (2002c). Life Skills Training program description. Retrieved Aug 21, 2002 from http://www.lifeskillstraining.com/program_structure1.cfm
Spoth, R. L., Randall, G. K., Trudeau, L., Shin, C. & Redmond, C. (2008). Substance use outcomes 5 ½ years past baseline for partnership-based, family-school preventive interventions. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 96, 57-68.
Spoth, R. L., Redmond, C., Trudeau, L. & Shin, C. (2002). Longitudinal substance initiation outcomes for a universal preventive intervention combining family and school programs. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16(2), 129-134.
Spoth, R., Trudeau, & L., Shin, C. (2008). Long-term effects of universal preventive interventions on prescription drug misuse. Addiction, 103(7), 1160-1168.
Trudeau, L., Spoth, R., Lillehoj, C., Redmond, C., & Wickrama, K. A. S. (2003). Effects of a Preventive Intervention on Adolescent Substance Use Initiation, Expectancies, and Refusal Intentions. Prevention Science, 4(2), 109-122.
KEYWORDS: School-Based, Substance Use, Social Skills/Life Skills, Anxiety Disorders/Symptoms, Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American, White/Caucasian, Middle School, High School, Skills Training, Tobacco Use, Marijuana/Illicit/Prescription Drugs, Alcohol Use, Self-Esteem/Self-Concept, Other Safety, Suburban, Urban, Rural, Adolescents (12-17), Young Adults (18-24), Youth (16+), Cost, Manual.
Program information last updated 6/2/11.
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© Child Trends 2003 |