Friendly PEERsuasionSMAgainst Substance Use: The Girls IncorporatedSMModel and Evaluation

SUMMARY Girls Incorporated Friendly PEERsuasion is a leadership and substance abuse prevention program based on the social influence model. Girls in grades 6–8 considered to be at high risk for substance use were recruited in four geographically and ethnically diverse communities, with participants randomly assigned to Fall 1988 “treatment” and Spring 1989 “comparison” participation (delayed entry model). Outcomes of interest were avoiding any use of harmful substances and leaving situations in which peers were using harmful substances. At the Birmingham, Alabama program site, where the program was implemented almost exactly as designed, an evaluation using survival analysis techniques included 118 girls (47 treatment, 71 comparison). A second evaluation using logistic regression compared the behavior of 354 participants (152 treatment, 202 comparison) across all four sites. Friendly PEERsuasion proved moderately effective, particularly for the youngest participants (p < .10). Evaluation results and subsequent research suggest that most girls experiment with substance use in their early teens and that the preteen years are a critical time for intervention.