Abstract

The Healthy for Life program was designed to positively influence the health behaviors of middle school students in five related areas: alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use, nutrition and sexuality. The in-school, social influences program was supplemented by parent and community components. Twenty-one schools were assigned to two treatment conditions or a random control. Students (n = 2,483) were surveyed annually from grade 6 until grade 10. The results indicate that overall Healthy for Life had minimal effect on the participating students relative to those in the control schools. The Intensive version of the program was more effective than an Age Appropriate version, with small positive results on four measures (frequency of meals, perceptions of peer use, cigarettes and marijuana smoked) and small negative effects for drinking alcohol. Implications for prevention theory are suggested.

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