A Review of Substance Abuse Prevention Interventions for Young Adolescent Girls

Consideration of the role of gender in alcohol, tobacco, and drug use, for the most part, has been omitted from studies of intervention effectiveness. Consequently, although scientists now can state with confidence that effective prevention approaches exist, it is not clear whether those programs are effective specifically for girls. Consequently, although great strides have been made in identifying substance use patterns, precursors to use, and effective prevention strategies in general, many questions remain about the ways in which those prevention efforts might address better the needs of differing gender and racial/ethnic groups. The primary goal for this report was first to review evidence of the effectiveness of traditional alcohol, tobacco, and drug use prevention approaches with girls and with boys, as well as available evidence from gender-specific or genderinformed interventions focused specifically on girls, and second, to make recommendations regarding needed research and prevention strategies that take gender into account.