Seventh-grade students who received a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention matched to their personality type were less likely to use substances over the following five years of adolescence than students who did not receive the intervention, according to a report today in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
“Most school-based prevention programs are universal and use some combination of alcohol and drug awareness, testimonials, flyers, brochures, peer education, and alcohol/drug-free activities,” wrote Patricia Conrod, Ph.D., of the University of Montreal, and colleagues. “These have been shown to have weak positive or even negative effects, but programs that promote general coping and drug-refusal skills are more promising.”
Thirty-one high schools in the greater Montreal area were randomly assigned either to receive a group CBT intervention known as PreVenture (n=15) or to continue treatment-as-usual (n=16). PreVenture groups youth by one of four personality traits associated with substance use risk: anxiety, hopelessness, impulsivity, or sensation seeking. Across two 90-minute sessions, counselors help students understand their specific risk trait and learn personality-specific cognitive and behavioral strategies to build self-efficacy and reduce their need to use substances to cope with interpersonal or intrapersonal challenges.
Overall, 705 seventh graders in the intervention schools and 964 in the control schools reported elevated scores on at least one of the four selected personality traits, as assessed with the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale, and were included in the final sample. Students in both school groups were assessed for substance use annually over the next five years.
Over the following five years, students at schools receiving PreVenture demonstrated a 35% reduction in the annual increase in substance use disorder (SUD) rate relative to students in the control group. At year five, students receiving PreVenture were 21% less likely to screen positive for SUD compared with those in the control schools.
Conrod and colleagues said the study showed for the first time that personality-targeted interventions might protect against longer-term development of SUD.
“The next phase of research on this intervention approach should focus on biologically and clinically confirmed SUD outcomes and structural and contextual factors that might enhance or interfere with program implementation and effectiveness,” they wrote. “It will also be important to understand the implementation resources necessary to ensure effective and equitable scaling out and scaling up of this preventive intervention across larger jurisdictions.”
For related information see the Psychiatric News article, “Easily Obtainable Demographic Data Said to be Best Predictor of Teen Substance Use.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/Drazen Zigic)
