The Effectiveness of the Life Skills Program IPSY for the Prevention of Adolescent Tobacco Use: The Mediating Role of Yielding to Peer Pressure

In this study, the effectiveness of a life skills program to impede tobacco use in early adolescence was scrutinized. The focus was on the mediating role of yielding to peer pressure. The universal schoolbased life skills program IPSY (Information + Psychosocial Competence = Protection) against adolescent substance use was implemented over 3 years. Over the same time period, it was evaluated based on a longitudinal quasi-experimental design with an intervention and comparison group (4 measurement points; N = 1,657 German students, age 10 at T1). By applying a growth curve modeling approach, we found that participation in IPSY compared with non-participation predicted a slower increase in tobacco use over time, suggesting a significant intervention effect. Moreover, a parallel growth curve model revealed that less yielding to peer pressure induced by IPSY mediated the program effects on tobacco use over time. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431615589349 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-120310 Accepted Version Originally published at: Weichold, K; Tomasik, M J; Silbereisen, R K; Spaeth, M (2016). The Effectiveness of the Life Skills Program IPSY for the Prevention of Adolescent Tobacco Use: The Mediating Role of Yielding to Peer Pressure. Journal of Early Adolescence, 36(7):881-908. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431615589349 PREVENTION OF TOBACCO USE 1 Running head: PREVENTION OF TOBACCO USE (Revision 1, February 25, 2015) The Effectiveness of the Life Skills Program IPSY for the Prevention of Adolescent Tobacco Use: The Mediating Role of Yielding to Peer Pressure Karina Weichold Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany Martin J. Tomasik University of Zurich, Switzerland Rainer K. Silbereisen, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany and Michael Spaeth Hannover Medical School, Germany [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] spaeth. [email protected] Corresponding author: Karina Weichold Department of Psychology University of Jena Am Steiger 3/ Haus 1 D – 07745 Jena Phone/Fax: 0049 (0) 3641 945221 / 0049 (0) 3641 94520 PREVENTION OF TOBACCO USE