The impact of gender on family-based prevention programs intended for adolescents: a review

 The efficacy of evidence-based family programs may be jeopardized due to the lack of results that
address gender differences. This paper reviews literature on family-based prevention programs
intended for preadolescents and adolescents listed in the ‘National Registry of Evidence-based
Programs and Practices’ (NREPP) by ‘Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’
(SAMHSA), ‘Blueprints’ or the ‘Promising Practices Network’. This review explores how
gender perspective is addressed in family-based prevention programs and to what extent the
inclusion of the gender perspective leads to better results. 103 of the 524 programs registered
in these three agencies were family programs and only 14 of these had data disaggregated by
sex. The results of this review show that only one of the programs analyzed includes the gender
perspective in its foundations; five of them get better results with girls; three get better results
with boys. The article concludes with a discussion of the results obtained, in which new lines of
research and application are opened.

Download PDF

Authors

  • Carmen Orte Socias - Universidad de las Islas Baleares

  • María Valero de Vicente - Universidad de las Islas Baleares

  • Miren Fernández-de-Álava - Universidad de las Islas Baleares

  • Rosario Pozo Gordaliza - Universidad de las Islas Baleares

Keywords:

Family prevention, evidence-based programs, substance use, adolescence, gender.

Share: