Catholic School Evidence Based Research - 2006/07

Introduction

The Choice Game™ involved 510 youths, 397 in the treatment group and 113 in the control group. A 33-item questionnaire including three demographic items was administered before and after the program to the treatment and control group. After the program, the treatment group completed a 43-item questionnaire including all the pretest items and 10 additional items to evaluate the students' response to the program. Pre/post gain scores were compared and reported as percent change from pretest to posttest for the treatment and control groups.

Demographics of the Study Include:

	Treatment		% Change	Control			% Change
1. What is your sex?	Pre	Post		Pre	Post
a. Female	35.5%	36.6%		52.7%	50%
b. Male	64.5%	63.4%		47.3%	50%
2. What is your current age?	Pre	Post	% Change	Pre	Post	% Change
a. 12	27.7%	22.0%		43.4%	26.1%
b. 13	33.0%	32.5%		49.6%	50.5%
c. 14	32.5%	35.6%		7.1%	23.4%
d. 15	6.0%	8.9%		.0%	.0%
e. 16	.8%	1.0%		.0%	.0%

3. How do you describe yourself?	Pre	Post	% Change	Pre	Post	% Change
a. White	4.8%	4.5%		1.8%	.0%
b. Black	73.8%	72.7%		85.0%	85.6%
c. Hispanic or Latino	11.1%	12.6%		4.4%	4.5%
d. Asian	.5%	.5%		.9%	.0%
e. Pacific Islander	1.3%	1.6%		.9%	.9%
f. American Indian or Alaskan Native	1.5%	1.3%		.0%	.9%
g. Other	7.1%	6.8%		7.1%	8.1%

Results

There were numerous items identified in which the treatment group demonstrated a significant increase in the desired response from pre to post. Below are featured a sample of seven items including:

Item #14: It is not a good idea for teenagers to have sex.

The treatment group increased significantly more (a 204% increase, from 30.4% to 36.6%), in strongly agreeing with this statement than the control group (a 42.9% decrease, from 43.4% to 24.8%)

Item #19: Using drugs or alcohol will increase my chances of becoming sexually active.

The treatment group increased significantly more (a 23.3% increase, from 37.2% to 41.1%) in strongly agreeing with this statement than the control group (a 16.8% decrease, from 41.1% to 34.2%).

Item #29: I plan to avoid drinking alcohol until I turn 21 years old.

The treatment group increased significantly more (a 7.6% increase, from 51.1% to 55.0%) than the control group (a 9.0% decrease, from 46.9% to 42.7%) in strongly agreeing with this item.

There were numerous items identified in which the treatment group demonstrated an increase of 15% or more in the desired response from pre to post. These 5 items (shaded blue in the report) include:

Item #6: A family member, or a trusted adult, helps me make healthy choices when it comes to sexual decisions.

The treatment group had a 31.8% increase, from 28.9% to 38.1%, in agreeing with this statement.

Item #21: If someone who I liked wanted to have sex with me, drinking or usage drugs would make it more difficult to say no.

The treatment group had a 19.3% increase, from 31.6% to 37.7%, in strongly agreeing with this statement.
The control group had a 3.7% decrease, from 32.7% to 31.5% in strongly agreeing with this statement.

35. This program changed the way I think about drugs	Frequency	%	Valid %	Cumulative %
a. YES!	232	59.8	60.7	60.7
b. yes	88	22.7	23.0	83.8
c. no	42	10.8	11.0	94.8
d. NO!	20	5.2	5.2	100.0
Total	382	98.5	100.0
System	6	1.5

40. I would recommend this program to others.	Frequency	%	Valid %	Cumulative %
a. YES!	220	56.7	57.9	57.9
b. yes	125	32.2	32.9	90.8
c. no	22	5.7	5.8	96.6
d. NO!	13	3.4	3.4	100.0
Total	380	97.9	100.0
System	8	2.1

Note: In rating the program, 62.9% of the treatment group chose a rating of “Excellent” and another 28.2% rated it “Good” for an approval rate of 91.1%. Also, 90.8% of the participating students said they would recommend the program to others.

Conclusions

The Choice Game is based on the Bandura Social Cognitive Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), using modeling to help teens make responsible life choices. Teens can learn behavioral and emotional lessons by observing young people that look, talk and possibly act like them. The 2006-2007 research on continues the Evidence Based history of The Choice Game™ statistics with the participating young people demonstrating significant change in attitudes regarding drugs, alcohol, their relations with parents or trusted adults, STDs and teen pregnancy. This positive shift in Catholic School teens’ understanding in this study is an indication that behaviors may also change in a positive manner.

Reference:
Bandura, A. (1977) Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

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