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Long-Term Effects of the Life Skills Program IPSY on Substance Use: Results of a 4.5-Year Longitudinal Study

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Abstract

This study investigated the long-term effectiveness of a Life Skills program with regard to use and proneness to legal and illicit drug use across a 4.5-year study interval. The universal school-based Life Skills program IPSY (Information + Psychosocial Competence = Protection) against adolescent substance use was implemented over 3 years (basic program in grade 5 and booster sessions in grades 6 and 7). Over the same time period, it was evaluated based on a longitudinal quasi-experimental design with intervention and control group, including two follow-up assessments after program completion [six measurement points; N (T1) = 1657 German students; M age (T1) = 10.5 years]. Applying an HLM approach, results showed that participation in IPSY had a significant effect on the frequency of smoking, and proneness to illicit drug use, across the entire study period. In addition, shorter-term effects were found for the frequency of alcohol use in that intervention effects were evident until the end of program implementation but diminished 2 years later. Thus, IPSY can be deemed an effective intervention against tobacco use and proneness to and use of illicit drugs during adolescence; however, further booster sessions may be necessary in later adolescence to enhance youths’ resistance skills when alcohol use becomes highly normative among peers.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Rainer K. Silbereisen for his enduring support of the study. In addition, the authors thank the principals, teachers, and students for their long-term commitment.

Funding

The study this paper is based on was funded by the University of Jena (Germany), the Ministry of Culture, Education and Arts of the German Federal State of Thuringia, and the Philip Morris GmbH (procured by the aforementioned Ministry). The content of the paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding parties.

Conflict of Interest

There were no conflicts of interests related to the preparation of the manuscript.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [DFG, German Research Foundation] and comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individuals participating in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University, Am Steiger 3/1, Jena, D-07743, Germany

    Karina Weichold & Anja Blumenthal

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  1. Karina Weichold
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  2. Anja Blumenthal
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Correspondence to Karina Weichold.

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Weichold, K., Blumenthal, A. Long-Term Effects of the Life Skills Program IPSY on Substance Use: Results of a 4.5-Year Longitudinal Study. Prev Sci 17, 13–23 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-015-0576-5

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