School-based social skills training programs are among the most popula
r form of alcohol misuse prevention strategies employed in the USA. Th
is paper reviews published evaluations of this strategy, in an attempt
to assess consistency of findings across studies. The majority of stu
dies show that social skills training programs, while not detrimental,
have little or no impact upon participants in terms of their alcohol
use behavior. Reasons why such programs are ineffective are discussed,
and suggestions made concerning the direction of future primary preve
ntion research.