Peer Network Counseling with Urban Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Moderate Substance Users

Highlights

• Adolescents were enrolled in Peer Network Counseling and followed for 6 months.

• Twenty minute intervention reduced offers to use alcohol from friends among boys.

• Intervention reduced marijuana use for youth with positive and prosocial peer networks.

• Results support further research in targeting protective peer networks for adolescents.

Abstract

Close peer networks can affect adolescents' health behaviors by altering their social environments, and thus their risk for and protection against substance use involvement. We tested a 20 minute intervention named Peer Network Counseling that integrates motivational interviewing and peer network strategies with 119 urban adolescents who reported occasional or problem substance use. Adolescents presenting at primary care clinic were randomized to intervention or control conditions and followed for 6 months. Mixed-effect latent growth models were used to evaluate intervention effects on trajectories of alcohol and marijuana use, offers to use substances, and moderation models to test for interactions between intervention condition and peer network characteristics. A significant intervention effect was found for boys for offers to use alcohol from friends (p < .05), along with a trend significant effect for alcohol use (p < .08). Intervention was more effective in reducing marijuana use, vs. control, for participants with more peer social support (p < .001) and with more peer encouragement for prosocial behavior (school, clubs, sports, religious activities); however, intervention did not affect these network characteristics. Results provide support to continue this line of research to test brief interventions that activate protective peer network characteristics among at-risk adolescents, while also raising some interesting gender-based intervention questions for future research.