Developmental Prevention Programs Intended to Change Peer Risk and Protective Factors: a Review of the Evaluation Literature

Purpose This paper seeks to increase knowledge of the nature and effectiveness of developmental peer prevention programs, defined as interventions that target change in peer risk and protective factors. Methods Three bibliographic databases and the Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development website were searched to identify peer prevention programs. Evaluations of these programs were reviewed to determine if statistical tests were performed to measure change in targeted factors and/or whether changes in targeted factors mediated reductions in antisocial behaviors. Results The search identified 33 peer prevention programs, 27 that had evidence of effectiveness in reducing substance use and/or delinquency and 6 that appeared to be ineffective. Peer prevention programs included a diverse set of interventions for children and/or caregivers and comprised individual, classroom, community, family, and multi-component interventions. Most (73%) of the programs had at least one evaluation that assessed change in at least one targeted peer risk or protective factor, but only six (18%) had evaluations that tested for mediation of targeted factors on outcomes. Conclusion The findings suggest the utility of broadly defining peer prevention programs to better capture the full range of interventions that seek to reduce antisocial behaviors by changing peer risk and protective factors. Doing so has practical implications and can provide communities with more options for altering peer risk and protective factors. However, additional evaluation of peer prevention programs, including greater use of mediation analyses, is needed to better understand why and how these programs work and to identify implementation factors that may lead to iatrogenic effects.