A substance-use prevention program delivered to students and their families in the sixth and seventh grades led to wide-ranging benefits well into adulthood and - for those who became parents - even positively affected their children, according to a new study by researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development.
The Promoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) program builds problem solving and communication skills among middle school students to reduce alcohol and other substance misuse. It was developed more than 20 years ago by researchers at Penn State and Iowa State University and has been delivered for decades in rural towns where residents have higher risk for substance misuse and lower levels of education.
Other studies have shown that participating in PROSPER improved young people's abilities to communicate and solve problems with others. Eighteen years later, the children of middle school PROSPER participants displayed higher levels of social and emotional skills - including listening, getting along with others and self-control - than children of people who did not participate in PROSPER, according to a new study published in Child Development.
