Reduction of adolescent alcohol use through family-school intervention: a randomized trial

Purpose: Two-year longitudinal follow-up data evaluated the behavioral impact of Resilient Families, a universal intervention that aimed to prevent early initiation and frequent and heavy adolescent alcohol use in secondary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Methods: Of 24 secondary schools (62% of those approached), 12 were randomly assigned to intervention and 12 as controls. Intervention students received a social relationship curriculum; their parents received parent education handbooks and invitations to parent education events outlining strategies to encourage healthy adolescent development and reduce adolescent alcohol misuse. At Wave 1 (2004), students were in Year 7 secondary school (mean age, 12.3 years). Data were imputed for students completing at least two of three annual surveys (N = 2,354). Wave 3 (2006; mean, 14.5 years) main outcome measures for alcohol use were "any," "frequent" (at least monthly), and "heavy" (five or more drinks in a session at least once in the prior fortnight). Multivariate logistic regression assessed intervention exposure effects, adjusting for school classroom clustering and baseline measures. Results: Relative to controls, intervention students showed significant reductions in any lifetime use (adjusted odds ratio [AOR],.78; 95% confidence interval [CI],.62-.97), and reduced progression to frequent (AOR,.69; CI,.56-.86) and heavy use (AOR,.75; CI,.60-.94). Conclusions: Randomized assignment to Resilient Families was associated with a significant reduction in adolescent alcohol use among families volunteering for the evaluation. Family-school-based interventions appear promising as a strategy to contribute to population reductions in currently high rates of adolescent alcohol misuse