2014 · Study · English

Youth Problem Behaviors 8 Years After Implementing the Communities That Care Prevention System

Hawkins, J. D., Oesterle, S., Brown, E. C., Abbott, R. D., & Catalano, R. F.

Hawkins, J. D., Oesterle, S., Brown, E. C., Abbott, R. D., & Catalano, R. F. (2014). Youth Problem Behaviors 8 Years After Implementing the Communities That Care Prevention System. JAMA Pediatrics, 168(2), 122. doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.4009

Summary

Primary outcome paper in JAMA Pediatrics from the Community Youth Development Study, the community-randomised trial of CTC: 24 small towns in seven US states were matched within state and randomised in 2003, and a panel of 4,407 fifth-graders was followed to grade 12 with 92.5% retention at the last wave. Intervention coalitions implemented tested programmes for 10- to 14-year-olds, their families and schools. By spring of grade 12 – eight years after CTC began and three years after study resources ended – students in CTC towns were more likely to have abstained throughout from any drug use (adjusted risk ratio 1.32; 95% CI 1.06–1.63), alcohol (1.31; 1.09–1.58), cigarettes (1.13; 1.01–1.27) and delinquency (1.18; 1.03–1.36), and less likely ever to have committed violence (0.86; 0.76–0.98). There were no significant differences in targeted risk, in past-month or past-year substance use, or in current delinquency or violence. CTC kept preventing initiation but did not lower current prevalence at the end of school.