Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program Analysis
Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is the most widely used drug education program targeted towards elementary school children in the United States. Since 1980’s over a million children across the United States have been introduced to the DARE program. The program began implementing their curriculum into school systems with the goal of educating children about the negatives aspects of drugs and gangs. The principal goal for this program is to deter students from the hard life of using drugs and gangs and help steer them on the right path. Even though the DARE programs has positive outcome other than deterring children from gangs and drugs. The program is considered ineffective and does not deter children from drugs and gangs.
What is the …show more content…
The participants in this study were 6th grader, and they were pre tested prior to their sixteen week DARE instruction and post tested after the completion of the program. In addition, they received follow up surveys every year up until their sophomore year of high school. The evaluation from the study by Clayton et al, revealed that the experimental and the control group displayed no significant difference in regards to refraining from cigarette, alcohol, or marijuana use during any periods of the follow up years (Clayton et al, 1996, p. 11). As a result, the program does not work because it fails at its most important goal which is deterring children from …show more content…
One limitation the DARE program experiences according to Clayton, Cattarello, and Johnstone (1996) is “drug prevention programs are seeking to change behaviors which have a strong developmental element” (p. 11). The DARE program only touches upon the surface aspects of drugs such as informing children about the effects of using drugs and resisting peer pressure.
However, deterring children from drugs and gangs takes more effort than what the DARE program is teaching children. A child does not simply use drug out of the blue. In many cases, children are pre exposed to drugs or are coerced into using drugs prior to being introduced to the DARE program. Therefore, the DARE program should seek to address children who are at risk to using drugs and being in gangs based on their external
What is the …show more content…
The participants in this study were 6th grader, and they were pre tested prior to their sixteen week DARE instruction and post tested after the completion of the program. In addition, they received follow up surveys every year up until their sophomore year of high school. The evaluation from the study by Clayton et al, revealed that the experimental and the control group displayed no significant difference in regards to refraining from cigarette, alcohol, or marijuana use during any periods of the follow up years (Clayton et al, 1996, p. 11). As a result, the program does not work because it fails at its most important goal which is deterring children from …show more content…
One limitation the DARE program experiences according to Clayton, Cattarello, and Johnstone (1996) is “drug prevention programs are seeking to change behaviors which have a strong developmental element” (p. 11). The DARE program only touches upon the surface aspects of drugs such as informing children about the effects of using drugs and resisting peer pressure.
However, deterring children from drugs and gangs takes more effort than what the DARE program is teaching children. A child does not simply use drug out of the blue. In many cases, children are pre exposed to drugs or are coerced into using drugs prior to being introduced to the DARE program. Therefore, the DARE program should seek to address children who are at risk to using drugs and being in gangs based on their external