How Effective is the 2010-2011 D.A.R.E. Program in the Mississippi Delta?

Abstract

Alcohol and drug use are common among middle school students, but drug use intervention programs in schools can decrease the number of youth participating in such behaviors. More than half of Mississippi’s youth self-reported that they had tried alcohol and cigarettes, and over a third of them had tried marijuana. The Delta Council implemented its 2010-2011 D.A.R.E. program in 33 Delta middle schools and administered pre- and post-test surveys to participating students. Survey items were broken into five domains and responses were assigned a numerical value. Data were divided into subgroups, and t-tests were used to determine if the mean differences between pre- and post-test were significant from zero. Students scored the highest in the areas of active and passive decision making and substance use expectancy which indicates that the program was beneficial to some students.