The Association of Extracurricular Activity Participation with Substance Use among Youth in the DARE plus Project

Abstract

The Minnesota Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Plus project augmented the DARE curriculum with community, parent involvement, and extracurricular activity components. Of the 24 schools in the DARE Plus project, the 8 receiving the DARE Plus intervention are examined in this study. The association of participation in the extracurricular activities component of the DARE Plus project with adolescent substance use is investigated. The intervention targeted the class of 2005 from seventh to eighth grade (1999–2001). As part of the intervention, students participated in extracurricular activities planned by peer leaders, and annual surveys measured substance use and psychosocial outcomes. After 2 years students overall and boys participating in extracurricular activities had significantly less alcohol use and fewer intentions to use alcohol than did nonparticipants. Asian American participants had significantly less tobacco use and fewer intentions to use tobacco compared with nonparticipants. The results suggest an association between extracurricular activity participation in DARE Plus and lower rates of substance use, especially among boys, and suggest that such participation can be helpful for youth of varying ethnicities. Further research is needed to more rigorously evaluate this association using an experimental design.