The Association of Extracurricular Activity Participation with Substance Use Among Youth in the DARE Plus Project

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Grenda

The Minnesota Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Plus project expanded DARE through community, parent involvement, and extracurricular activity components across 24 schools. This study examines the 8 schools receiving the DARE Plus intervention and tests how participation in the extracurricular component relates to adolescent substance use. The intervention focused on the 2005 class from seventh to eighth grade, with peer-led activities and annual surveys measuring substance use and psychosocial outcomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

DARE Plus intervention design

Outcomes and key findings

Context and theoretical framework

Continuing Education The Association of Extracurricular Activity Participation with Substance Use Among Youth in the DARE Plus Project Alissa Eischens, KelliA. Komro, Cheryl L. Perry, Linda M. Bosma, and Kian Farbakhsh ABSTRACT The Minnesota Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Plus project augmented the DARE curriculum with community, parent involvement, and extracurricular activity components. Of the 24 schools in the DARE Plus project, the 8 receiving the DARE Plus intervention are examined in this study. The association of participation in the extracurricular activities component of the DARE Plus project with adolescent substance use is investigated. The intervention targeted the class of 2005 from seventh to eighth grade (1999–2001). As part of the intervention, students participated in extracurricular activities planned by peer leaders, and annual surveys measured substance use and psychosocial outcomes. After 2 years students overall and boys participating in extracurricular activities had significantly less alcohol use and fewer intentions to use alcohol than did nonparticipants. Asian American participants had significantly less tobacco use and fewer intentions to use tobacco compared with nonparticipants. The results suggest an association between extracurricular activity participation in DARE Plus and lower rates of substance use, especially among boys, and suggest that such participation can be helpful for youth of varying ethnicities. Further research is needed to more rigorously evaluate this association using an experimental design. Adolescent substance use is a serious public health problem and is associated with school problems, risky sexual behavior, delinquent behavior, and impairmentsin social, psychological, and physical development; it also puts young people at risk for future substance abuse problems (Grunbaum et al., 2002; Johnston, O’Malley,& Bachman, 2001; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2000). Alcohol is the most widely used substance among youth in the United States, followed by tobacco and marijuana. In 2001, 78.2% of high school students reported ever having used alcohol, 63.9% reported ever having used cigarettes, and 42.4% reported ever having used marijuana (Grunbaum et al., 2002; Johnston et al., 2001) . Boys consume more alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana than do girls. American Indian, White, and Hispanic youth tend to have higher rates of substance use, whereas Asian Americans and African Americans tend to have lower rates of substance use, although smoking among Asian American youth increases rapidly during the high school years (Appleyard, Messeri, & Haviland, 2001; Grunbaum et al., 2002; Wallace et al., 2002; Welte, Barnes, Hoffman, & Dintcheff, 1999) . The theory of triadic influence explains youth substance use as a result of social, Alissa Eischens, MPH, Kelli A. Komro, MPH, PhD, Cheryl L. Perry, PhD, Linda M. Bosma, MA, and Kian Farbakhsh, MA, are with the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 S. Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454. [E-mail: Komro@epi.umn.edu](E-mail: Komro@epi.umn.edu). Alissa Eischens, KelliA. Komro, Cheryl L. Perry, Linda M. Bosma, and Kian Farbakhsh environmental, and intrapersonal factors or causes (Flay & Petraitis, 1994). This theory recognizes that adolescents’ social influences contribute to their normative beliefs about substance use (Beauvais & Oetting, 2002; Epstein, Botvin, & Diaz, 1999; Hussong, 2002), that the cultural environment shapes attitudes about substance use (Wagenaar & Perry, 1994), and that personal factors such as social skills and sense of self contribute to self-efficacy in avoiding substance use (Gaffney, Thorpe, Young, Collett,& Occhipini, 1998; Lifrak, McKay, Rostain, Alterman, & O’Brien, 1997) . It also recognizes that a single factor can impact many outcomes; for example, social influences can shape normative beliefs as well as impa

FAQs

What intervention components were added in the DARE Plus project?

DARE Plus augmented the original DARE curriculum with community involvement, parent involvement, and extracurricular activity components.

Which student group and time period did the study intervention target?

The intervention targeted the class of 2005 during seventh to eighth grade, spanning 1999–2001.

What was measured to assess substance use and outcomes?

Students participated in peer-leader planned extracurricular activities, and annual surveys measured substance use and psychosocial outcomes.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Grenda