Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111107

Sara V. Birnel, BA¹, Tracy R. Nichols, PhD², Amanda S. Birnbaum, PhD, MPH³, Christel Hyden, MS¹, and M. Esther Romero, BA¹. (1) Department of Public Health, Division of Prevention & Health Behavior, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 411 E 69th St., New York, NY 10021, 212-746-1134, sab2020@med.cornell.edu, (2) Public Health, Cornell Weill Medical College, 411 E 69 St., New York, NY 10021, (3) Department of Public Health, Division of Prevention & Health Behavior, Weill Cornell Medical College, 411 East 69th Street, KB-209, New York, NY 10021

Effective drug and violence prevention programs teach adolescents social skills yet few studies examine adolescents' effectiveness in utilizing these skills. To enable students to learn and use social skills effectively, programs need to address real-life contexts and situations for which the skills are intended. However, assessing students' skill abilities and their effectiveness in social situations presents methodological challenges.

This presentation will demonstrate an innovative method for assessing adolescents' perceptions of social skill abilities in social contexts. This method builds on a recent sub-study of a larger drug prevention trial, in which NYC middle-school students (N=475) were videotaped in role-plays with trained adult confederates. Videotapes were coded by research assistants using an extensive schema for verbal and non-verbal behaviors, and data were analyzed to examine program effectiveness on increasing assertive behaviors while decreasing aggressive and passive behaviors, ultimately decreasing youth drug use and violence.

The new method uses adolescents as coders. High-school students view the videotapes and define the effectiveness of middle-school students' performances in four role-play social situations involving conflict and refusal skills. Quantitative and qualitative results from a pilot study (N=60 Role plays) of the new method will be presented to demonstrate procedures used to explore and reach consensus on definitions of effectiveness within each situation and the associations between adolescent-defined effectiveness on drug use and aggression. Issues of cross-cultural definitions of effectiveness and appropriate behavior within specific social contexts will be addressed.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the presentation participants will
• explore a process for examining adolescent perception of social skill effectiveness;
• examine how adolescents define effectiveness in social situations
• understand associations between effectiveness within tasks and drug use/aggression outcomes

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.