Funded Research
Intervention RFP: The Impact of School-Based Prevention on Friendship Networks and Peer Influence
Source: William T. Grant Foundation
Active: 08/01/2007 - 07/31/2010
Investigator(s):
D. Wayne Osgood
Mark Feinberg
In what ways do combined family- and school-based programs positively alter peer networks and thereby lower youth's substance use and delinquency? PROSPER (Promoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) is an intervention that provides family- and school-based substance-abuse prevention services to sixth- and seventh-grade students. The team used a community-level random assignment design to study the impact of the intervention, which affected important youth outcomes. In this supplement, the researchers will examine what changed in the peer networks and interactions among students in schools participating in the PROSPER program to cause these positive effects. The researchers will investigate why the PROSPER program changed social groups and peer influences and how those student- and group-level changes had the intended outcome of reducing substance abuse among students. The study includes 28 rural schools in mostly white communities, 14 of which are randomly assigned to PROSPER and 14 to the control condition. The approximately 11,000 students served in these schools have moderate rates of poverty and include few non-English speakers.
