Peer-led prevention efforts aimed at reducing adolescent alcohol and other drug use are about 15 percent more effective than other programs, researchers say.

Medical News Today reported Oct. 9 that researcher Thomas Valente, Ph.D., and colleagues tracked the outcomes of two cadres of youths enrolled in the Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND) prevention program. One group was led by a health educator or teacher, while the other was led by peers.

Researchers said the peer-led group reported lower rates of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs when surveyed a year later. About 550 high-school students took part in the project.

"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 Valente, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. "Generally, our study emphasizes the power of peers. We found that social network-tailored prevention curricula can be very successful in achieving long-term behavioral changes in teenagers."

On the other hand, researchers found that students whose peers used drugs were more likely to use drugs if they took part in the peer-led intervention. "Peer influence can go both ways, some students benefited because of the positive social influence of their friends while others were harmed by negative influence of their substance using peers," said Valente. "Programs that incorporate this type of interactive programming can be very effective, but they depend on how peer influence is channeled. "

The study was published in the November 2007 issue of the journal Addiction.