Study Finds Peers Strongly Influence Substance Abuse

Friends don't let friends do drugs. Or at least that's what researchers at the University of Southern California argued Monday. According to their study, teenagers who participate in peer-led substance abuse programs are 15 percent less likely to use drugs than those who participate in traditional programs. USC researchers suggest that peer pressure is a bigger factor than many realize, even those considered "experts" in the field.

"Most substance abuse prevention programs disseminate information about the bad effects of drugs and teach resistance skills without considering the impact of peer influence," said Thomas Valente, Ph. D., an assistant professor of preventative medicine at USC's Keck School of Medicine. Valente said the results indicated that such programs were missing a crucial component in the battle against teen substance abuse. "Generally, our study emphasizes the power of peers."

To conduct the survey, which was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the researchers compared the traditional, teacher-led program Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND) to the peer-led Project TND Network. The programs employed a number of different methods in their prevention efforts. While TND held interactive discussions at the classroom level, they were led by an adult. However, Project TND Network featured discussion by a student-chosen leader and made use of small groups of friends and an increased number of group activities.

"We found that social network-tailored prevention curricula can be very successful in achieving long-term behavioral changes in teenagers," said Valente.

The study found that the effects of peer pressure were a two-way street, though. Results indicated that students did not benefit from the interactive, student-led program if they lived in an environment that supports substance abuse. Even the peer emphasis employed in Project TND Network failed to overcome the influence of substance-abusing friends.