Editing Peer pressure (section)

==== Prevention ====

Substance use prevention and intervention programs have utilized multiple techniques in order to combat the impact of peer pressure. One major technique is peer influence resistance skills.<ref>{{cite journal|date=1986|title=Meta-analysis of 143 adolescent drug prevention programs: Quantitative outcome results of program participants compared to a control or comparison group|last1=Tobler|first1=Nancy|url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=104318|journal=Journal of Drug Issues|volume=16|issue=4|pages=537–567|doi=10.1177/002204268601600405|s2cid=76433088|access-date=November 30, 2014|archive-date=August 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806040948/https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=104318|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Hansen Graham2">{{cite journal |last2=Graham|first2=John W.|date=May 1991|title=Preventing alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use among adolescents: Peer pressure resistance training versus establishing conservative norms|journal=Preventive Medicine|volume=20 |issue=3|pages=414–430|doi=10.1016/0091-7435(91)90039-7|pmid=1862062|last1=Hansen|first1=William B.}}</ref> The known correlational relationship between substance use and relationships with others that use makes resistance skills a natural treatment target. This type of training is meant to help individuals refuse participation with substance use while maintaining their membership in the peer group. Other interventions include normative education approaches (interventions designed to teach students about the true prevalence rates and acceptability of substance use),<ref name="Hansen Graham2" /> education interventions that raise awareness of potential dangers of substance use, alcohol awareness training and classroom behavior management. The literature regarding the efficacy of these approaches, however, is mixed.<ref name="Hansen Graham2" /><ref name=":4">{{cite journal|last1=Foxcroft|first1=David R |last2=Tsertsvadze|first2=Alexander|date=March 2012|title=Cochrane Review: Universal school-based prevention programs for alcohol misuse in young people|journal=Evidence-Based Child Health|volume=7 |issue=2|pages=450–575|doi=10.1002/ebch.1829}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last2=Copeland|first2=Laurel A.|last3=Maharg|first3=Ruth|last4=Dielman|first4=T.E. |date=August 1996|title=Effectiveness of a High School Alcohol Misuse Prevention Program |journal=Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research|volume=20|issue=5|pages=791–798 |doi=10.1111/j.1530-0277.1996.tb05253.x|pmid=8865950 |last1=Shope|first1=Jean T.|hdl=2027.42/65153|hdl-access=free}}</ref> A study in Los Angeles and Orange Counties that established conservative norms and attempted to correct children's beliefs about substance abuse among their peers showed a statistically significant decrease in alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use,<ref name="Hansen Graham2" /> but other studies that systematically reviewed school-based attempts to prevent alcohol misuse in children found "no easily discernible pattern" in both successful and failed programs.<ref name=":4" /> A systematic review of intervention programs in schools conducted by Onrust et al. found that programs in elementary school were successful in slightly reducing a student's likelihood to abuse drugs or alcohol. However, this effect started to wear off with programs that targeted older students. Programs that targeted students in grades 8–9 reduced smoking, but not alcohol and other drug abuse, and programs that targeted older children reported no effect at all.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Onrust|first1=Simone A.|last2=Otten|first2=Roy|last3=Lammers|first3=Jeroen|last4=Smit |first4=Filip|date=2016-03-01|title=School-based programmes to reduce and prevent substance use in different age groups: What works for whom? Systematic review and meta-regression analysis|journal=Clinical Psychology Review|volume=44|pages=45–59 |doi=10.1016/j.cpr.2015.11.002|pmid=26722708|doi-access=free|hdl=2066/157223|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

In a non-substance use context, however, research has shown that decision-making training<ref name=KhemkaHickson2016>{{Cite journal|last1=Khemka|first1=Ishita|last2=Hickson|first2=Linda|last3=Mallory |first3=Sarah B.|date=2016-03-18 |title=Evaluation of a Decision-Making Curriculum for Teaching Adolescents with Disabilities to Resist Negative Peer Pressure|journal=Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders |volume=46|issue=7|pages=2372–2384|issn=0162-3257 |doi=10.1007/s10803-016-2770-0|pmid=26993636 |s2cid=23515180}}</ref> can produce concrete gains in risk perception and decision-making ability among autistic children. When administered the training in several short sessions that taught the children how to recognize risk from peers and react accordingly, the children demonstrated, through post-training assessments, that they were able to identify potential threats and sources of pressure from peers and deflect them far better than non-autistic adolescents in a control group.<ref name=KhemkaHickson2016/>