Age range

Website: www.girlsinc.org

Mission/Goals: Girls Inc. is a national nonprofit youth organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Girls Inc has provided vital educational programs to millions of American girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas.

Notes: Girls Inc. runs a program, Friendly PEERsuasion, to prevent substance abuse and to change substance abuse behavior among middle school girls. The evaluation provided here assesses this subprogram of Girls Inc. The Girls Inc. programs in Cleveland, Ohio are run through the YWCA.

Source(s): www.girlsinc.org; www.guidestar.org; www.ywcaofcleveland.org

Please click here for more information on this evaluation.

Type of Evaluation: Experimental
Note: The evaluation reported here does not include the Ohio program.

Friendly PEERsuasion builds girls' skills for resisting pressure to use harmful substances such as alcohol, tobacco, household chemicals and other drugs. The two-part substance abuse prevention program teaches girls ages 11 to 14 healthy ways to manage stress and confront peer, media and other pressures. The girls then assume roles as PEERsuaders for younger girls.

Objective: To determine the impact of Friendly PEERsuasion on substance abuse behaviors in girls.
 

Impact/Outcomes: The program was found to be most successful in delaying substance use in younger participants: 22% of younger, treatment group participants reported substance abuse compared to 34% in the control group. Younger participants were less likely to use "gateway" drugs. Treatment group participants also reported leaving situations where substance abuse was present more often than control group participants.

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