Media resistance skills and drug skill refusal techniques: What is their relationship with alcohol use among inner-city adolescents?

Past research related to alcohol advertising examined whether underage adolescents were targets of the alcohol industry and what impact such advertising had on adolescent drinking. The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine the impact of media resistance skills on subsequent drinking among adolescents residing in inner-city regions of New York City. The study also tested whether drug skill refusal techniques (knowing how to say no to alcohol and other drugs) mediated the relationship between media resistance skills and adolescent drinking. A panel sample of baseline, one-year and two-year follow-ups (N=1318) from the control group of a longitudinal drug abuse prevention trial participated. A series of structural equations models showed that media resistance skills directly negatively predicted alcohol use 2 years later and that drug skill refusal techniques mediated this effect. Baseline media resistance skills were associated with one-year drug skill refusal techniques, which in turn negatively predicted two-year alcohol use. These findings provided empirical support for including media resistance skills and drug skill refusal techniques in alcohol prevention programs.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes