Police love the program. This response sounds reasonable until one learns that the DARE program has undergone over a dozen major changes, none which has ever been effective. Of 31 elementary schools in Lexington, Ky., 23 were randomly assigned to receive DARE, and the remaining eight schools were selected as comparison groups. In 2000, the citing the lack of scientific proof of the program's effectiveness, the Department of Education announced that it would no longer allow schools to spend its money on D.A.R.E. Ditto sex education. Attitude toward general and specific (i.e., cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana) drug use, perceived benefits and costs of drug use, self-esteem, assertiveness, and peer-resistance skills comprise the social and psychological variables measured. Thus, for cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana, there was no discernable difference between students receiving DARE or the comparison group. ", home . youth.gov is the U.S. government website that helps you create, maintain, and strengthen effective youth programs. In addition, students were asked how many of their friends they believe use cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. had been the target of much criticism in recent years, including 2001 report by the Surgeon General, which concluded that "[D.A.R.E. has been the country’s largest single school-based prevention program in terms of federal expenditures, with an average of three quarters of a billion dollars spent on its provision annually. program to select HISD schools at a press conference on Monday. The secondary goals of the program are to build students’ social skills and enhance their self-esteem, as these are believed to be linked to adolescent drug use. cited few differences between the groups in terms of "actual drug use, drug attitudes or self-esteem. This perceptional measure was included as an additional peer pressure measure. That is to say, although DARE did not prevent adolescents from using cigarettes or alcohol, those participating in DARE were not as likely to increase their use of cigarettes or alcohol compared to students in the control condition. And besides, it gives them a free period. The same is true in the case of drugs. Analyses were conducted on students that were present and provided information for all four waves of data collection, reducing the sample size to 1,334 students. The early focus of the program was to inoculate or strengthen children to resist the temptation of drug experimentation and the pressure of peers who want them to engage in drug use. Also collected and used in later analyses were sociodemographic variables, such as gender, race/ethnicity, community structure, and family type. The first round of data collection, Wave One, occurred just before the implementation of DARE when students were in either the fifth or sixth grade. Most students were 11 to 12 years of age at baseline, making them 16 to 17 years of age at the end of the study period. About three of every four school districts in the U.S. uses the DARE program. This effect was only evident from Wave One to Two, meaning that this small protective effect wore off after a year. Study 1. For the early follow-up measurements, DARE students maintained negative attitudes toward drug use and moderately strong refusal skills. “The effectiveness of DARE in altering students’ drug use behavior has yet to be established," concluded a University of Illinois at Chicago study … For the overall sample, Clayton, Cattarello, and Johnstone (1996) found an increase in drug use. Drug Use. One of the most common U.S. programs is Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE). At posttest, immediately after the 17 DARE lessons were completed, there was a significant positive effect on students’ self-esteem. DARE schools were selected out of schools already planning to implement the program. The sample as a whole, both treatment and comparison, experienced a significant change in their drug-related behavior. Waves Three and Four occurred one year after the pretest and two years after the pretest, respectively. There was, however, no protective effect for alcohol evident for suburban or urban students receiving DARE. Students and their parents both support DARE. Copyright © 1997-2019 D. J. Hanson. DARE officers receive 80 hours of training in classroom management, teaching strategies, communication skills, adolescent development, drug information, and thorough instruction on DARE’s 17 lessons.