Life Skills Training Prevention Program That Revolves

¶ … Life Skills Training prevention program that revolves around material focusing on violence and the media, anger management, and conflict resolution skills. My idea for this program comes from Botvin et al. (2006) who empirically tested the efficacy of this program and found that it can be successfully used to not only prevent tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use but also to prevent violence and delinquency.

The Life Skills Training (LST) is a program that was structured "to address several important cognitive, attitudinal, psychological, and social factors related to tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use and violence" (Bovine et al., p 404). People who use it are taught a variety of cognitive-behavioral skills that help them in terms of "problem-solving and decision-making, resisting media influences, managing stress and anxiety, communicating effectively, developing healthy personal relationships, and asserting one's rights "(ibid).

Social scientists (e.g., Elliott, Huizinga, & Ageton, 1985; Hammond & Yung, 1993), consistently, point to the impact of these factors in influencing delinquency. Delinquents, generally, have poor habits that disable them from making the right decisions; they are unable to resist media influence sometimes causing them to steal in order to acquire the good when they have fewer resources to do so in the normal way. The media also may stimulate them to the desire to appear more macho than they really are. They find it difficult to manage the stress and anxiety of their environment; are unable to communicate effectively; may find it challenging to develop a healthy social support network; and, finally, have difficulty in asserting their right driving them to violence as substitute.

LST not only provides these skills but also does so in an environment that is sharpened by interactive teaching techniques that include group discussion, demonstration, modeling, behavioral rehearsal, feedback and reinforcement, and behavioral "homework" assignments for out-of-class practice. LST also connects its strategies to substance use and violence in particular; therefore, students are, for instance, taught how to be assertive in situations when pressure is imposed on them to employ drugs. They are also taught anger management and conflict resolution skills

Botvin et al. (2006) tested the efficacy of this program on 4,858 sixth-grade students from 41 New York City public and parochial schools. The sample was 51% boys and 49% girls and was largely African-American and Hispanic. The sample was largely economically disadvantaged youth with many of them living in single-parent households.

2,374 students from 20 experimental schools received the LST program whilst 2,484 students from 21 control schools received the standard health education curriculum that was common in New York schools. Questionnaires were given to students following completion by researchers who were of the same ethnic persuasion as the students. Violence and delinquent behaviors were assessed by questionnaire following certain measures. The project staff monitored the implementation of the program, whilst trained staff observed the teachers and observed how much of the material was actually accomplished within the lessons.

Analysis of the data discovered that students' verbal aggression, physical aggression, fighting, and delinquent behaviors were all relatively high when the study was first allocated (at baseline). T-tests also showed that levels of violence and substance use were consistent between experimental and control group at baseline. However, for the students who received at least half of the preventive intervention, there were significant improvements and contrast in aggression in the duration of even one month or on delinquency and violence in the past year.

Botvin et al. (2006) concluded that the LST test was effective, not only in reducing tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use but also in preventing violence and delinquency:

LST students were less likely than students in the control group to argue or tell someone off, push or shove, and get into physical fights. They were also less likely than controls to engage in delinquent behaviors such as destroying property, shoplifting, stealing, taking something by force, or vandalizing a school or other building (p.406).

These are huge results!

Various educators and social scientists are calling for more comprehensive, integrated preventative programs that can be introduced into public schools in order to deter substance abuse, crime, and violence (e.g. Belgian & Cody, 2003; Flay, 2002). Current programs administered to primary and secondary schools focus on and treat separate risks. None treat the risks as a whole or provide a comprehensive format. The LST program does, and, judging from the results, serves as a wonderful candidate.

The LST program also helps schools in a practical manner since it addresses multiple problems at one time thereby reducing the cost and time of the school running separate interventions that target each risk-based behavior separately. A program, such as the LST that addresses multiple risks simultaneously, alleviates the burden on teachers and administrators of investing a surplus of class time and resources in delivering it.

One of the problems, on the other hand, that I find with the study of Botvin et al. (2006) is that it was largely confined to economically disadvantaged youth whilst experience shows us that many children of the wealthiest households engage in delinquency and drugs too. Whites, too, were under-represented, and a large percentage of the sample came from single-parent households. The study, therefore, contained stereotypes that precluded it from having a more accurate effect.