ALCOHOL AND MARIJUANA USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS - LONG-TERM OUTCOMES OF THE CLASS OF 1989 STUDY

The Minnesota Heart Health Program (MHHP) is a population-wide researc h and demonstration project designed to reduce cardiovascular disease in three educated communities (1980-1993) compared to three matched re ference communities. The Class of 1989 Study, a substudy of the MHNP, collected self-reported data in one educated and one matched reference community. All sixth graders enrolled in both communities were invite d to participate in a baseline survey in 1983, and that grade cohort w as surveyed annually throughout junior high and high school until 1989 . Students received interventions designed to favorably influence thei r smoking, physical activity levels, and eating behavior each year fro m 1983 to 1987. As part of this five-year intervention, a program addr essing smoking, alcohol use, drinking and driving behavior, and mariju ana use was implemented during the school year of 1985-1986, when stud ents were in ninth grade. Using the school as the unit of analysis, we found that students in the intervention community in 1986 reported fe wer occasions on which they had been drinking alcohol in the past 30 d ays than did students in the reference community. Furthermore, student s in the intervention community reported less problem drinking in the previous two weeks and less driving after drinking than did students i n the reference community. These positive intervention effects were no t maintained through twelfth grade.