LifeSkills Training

Prevention; Ages 8–14

Risk Factors

Individual

Antisocial/delinquent beliefs

Few social ties (involved in social activities, popularity)

General delinquency involvement

High alcohol/drug use

Life stressors

Makes excuses for delinquent behavior (neutralization)

Poor refusal skills

Peer

Association with antisocial/aggressive/delinquent peers; high peer delinquency

Peer alcohol/drug use

Description

LifeSkills Training (LST) is a program that seeks to influence major social and psychological factors that promote the initiation and early use of substances. LifeSkills has distinct elementary (8 to 11 years old) and middle school (11 to 14 years old) curricula that are delivered in a series of classroom sessions over three years. The sessions use lecture, discussion, coaching, and practice to enhance students’ self-esteem, feelings of self-efficacy, ability to make decisions, and ability to resist peer and media pressure.

LST consists of three major components that address critical domains found to promote substance use. Research has shown that students who develop skills in these three domains are far less likely to engage in a wide range of high-risk behaviors. The three components each focus on a different set of skills:

• Drug Resistance Skills—This component enables young people to recognize and challenge common misconceptions about substance use, as well as deal with peers and media pressure to engage in substance use.
• Personal Self-Management Skills—These skills help students to examine their self-image and its effects on behavior, set goals and keep track of personal progress, identify everyday decisions and how they may be influenced by others, analyze problem situations, and consider the consequences of alternative solutions before making decisions.
• General Social Skills—Students develop the necessary skills to overcome shyness, communicate effectively and avoid misunderstandings, use both verbal and nonverbal assertiveness skills to make or refuse requests, and recognize that they have choices other than aggression or passivity when faced with tough situations.

Using outcomes averaged across more than a dozen studies, LST has been found to:

• Cut tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use by 50 to 75 percent.

Long-term, follow-up results observed six years following the intervention show that LST:

• Cuts polydrug use up to 66 percent.
• Reduces pack-a-day smoking by 25 percent.
• Decreases use of inhalants, narcotics, and hallucinogens.

Endorsements

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Model program

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2001): Model program

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Model program

OJJDP Blueprints Project: Effective program

White House Office of National Drug Control Policy: Model program

U.S. Department of Education: Exemplary program

National Institute on Drug Abuse: Programs that work

Contact

Gilbert J. Botvin, Ph.D.
National Health Promotion Associates, Inc.
711 Westchester Avenue
White Plains, NY 10604
Phone: (800) 293-4969 or (914) 421-2525
Fax: (914) 683-6998
E-mail: LSTinfo@nhpanet.com
Web site: www.lifeskillstraining.com

References

Botvin, G. J.; Mihalic, S. F.; and Grotpeter, J. K. (1998). Blueprints for Violence Prevention, Book Five: Life Skills Training. Boulder, CO: Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence.