Topic: Alcohol/Drugs/Tobacco, Media Literacy, Life Stress
Target Population: Adolescents, Middle Childhood
Sector: Community-Based, School-Based
This program is for girls who are 11 to 14 years old.
Girls Inc. Friendly PEERsuasion®, a school- or community-based interactive prevention program, is designed to provide participants with knowledge, skills, and support systems that can help them manage social pressures and life stress and avoid substance use.
One older evaluation of the program demonstrated that younger program participants were more likely to avoid the use of substances and were more likely to leave situations where peers were using substances; however, there were no statistically significant, sustained results between treatment and control groups on any measure.
This program uses a combination of adult leadership and peer reinforcement to teach participants to respond thoughtfully to messages and social pressures to use drugs or alcohol or respond to stress in unhealthy ways. The program is implemented in two phases.
In phase I, a curriculum, delivered by a trained adult leader, teaches participants the following:
After completing the curriculum, participants are certified as PEERsuaders. In phase II of the program, small teams of PEERsuasders plan and deliver substance abuse prevention activities to younger children, ages 6 to 10, referred to as PEERsuade-Me’s. PEERsuaders work with an adult leader to deliver information and practice substance use prevention skills.
Additional program components include the following:
Girls Inc. Friendly PEERsuasion began in 1988. Currently, Girls Inc. organizations serve over 140,000 girls every year across the United States and Canada.
This program is delivered by Girls Inc. trained, professional leaders. Please visit www.girlsinc.org/findagirlsinc./girls-inc-usa-and-canada.html to contact local branches for more information.
Considerations for implementing this program include contacting a local Girls Inc. branch to bring the program to a specific location, obtaining participant and parental buy-in as some topics could be of a sensitive nature, and understanding that program costs could require funding.
The Clearinghouse can help address these considerations. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
If you are interested in implementing Girls Inc. Friendly PEERsuasion, the Clearinghouse is interested in helping you! Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Phase I consists of 14 1-hour sessions. Phase II consists of 8 to 10 30-minute sessions. Time to implement the Connecting HIV and Substance Abuse activities varies. The Talking About Tough Stuff Workshop lasts 8 hours and may be implemented in 1 day or over 2 half days.
Implementation costs will vary depending on an organization’s location and resources.
To move the Girls Inc. Friendly PEERsuasion program to the Promising category on the Clearinghouse Continuum of Evidence, at least one evaluation should be performed demonstrating positive effects lasting at least one year from the beginning of the program or at least six months from program completion.
The Clearinghouse can help you develop an evaluation plan to ensure the program components are meeting your goals. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Contact the Clearinghouse with any questions regarding this program.
Phone: 1-877-382-9185 Email: Clearinghouse@psu.edu
You may also contact Girls Inc. National Office by mail 120 Wall Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10005, phone 1-212-509-2000, email communications@girlsinc.org, or visit https://girlsinc.org/contact-us/
Weiss, F. L., & Nicholson, H. J. (1998). Friendly PEERsuasion against substance use: The Girls Incorporated model and evaluation. Drugs & Society, 12(1-2), 7–22.
Lunghofer, L., & Williams, W. (2016). Evaluation of Friendly PEERsuasion. Annotation.
