Adolescence, and certainly early adolescence, is a period of multiple, rapid, and profound changes and transitions. Over the past decade, there has been growing concern among researchers, clinicians, and policy makers about the overall health status of adolescents. Such concerns are particularly important for adolescent girls: "Girls today are much more oppressed. They are coming of age in a more dangerous, sexualized, and media-saturated culture. They face incredible pressures to be beautiful and sophisticated, which in junior high means using chemicals and being sexual. As they navigate a more dangerous world, girls are less protected" (Pipher, 1994, p. 12).
Dryfoos (1998) estimates that one third of U.S. 14-year-olds are at high to very high risk for future behavior problems. Consider the broad range of risky behaviors and pitfalls that await adolescents (Brindis, Irwin, Ozer, Handley, Knopf, & Millstein, 1997; Resnick et al., 1997).
Delinquency, for example, both major and minor, begins for most youth in early adolescence and reaches its height during later adolescence. Experimentation with alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs also begins for most children during adolescence, and it is during this time that they establish critical use patterns that extend into adulthood. Exploration of sexuality begins in early adolescence and for many girls leads to sexual intercourse, unwanted pregnancy, or sexually transmitted diseases. Beyond these problems, many adolescents begin to lose interest in school, which can often be further translated into school failure and dropout. Moreover, conflict with peers and parents can lead to dissatisfaction with one's self. All of these social problems can influence an adolescent's life course and have a long-term impact (Johnson & Millstein, 2003; Graber, Brooks-Gunn, & Petersen, 1996).
Adolescence is an ideal age group for preventive interventions to avert or delay the onset of problem behaviors. Indeed, too often preventive interventions target older youth when it is too late because problem behaviors have already started. Although the early adolescent years are a time of increased vulnerability and potential risk, they also constitute special opportunities for preventive interventions. As Hamburg and Takanishi (1989) argue: "One of the most neglected opportunities in disease prevention and health promotion has been the thoughtful exploration of how to reach large numbers of adolescents with preventive approaches" (p. 826). Many experts on adolescence have found public policy to be unresponsive to research evidence regarding when and how to intervene in ways that can produce positive impacts for young people and for the nation. The Carnegie Corporation launched the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development to help bridge the gap between knowledge and practice to improve professional practice, program and policy development, and research for early adolescents (Carnegie Corporation, 1995). As representatives of the Council, Hamburg and Takanishi (1989) pointedly state: "It is essential that we move early adolescence much higher on the nation's agenda for scientific research and for youth and family policy" (p. 826). Current interest has grown in bridging practice and research and there is more optimism in the potential of prevention science (Cicchetti et al., 2000; Weissberg, Kumpfer, & Seligman, 2003).
This article describes an intervention for early adolescent girls taking into account recommendations that the development of prevention programs be based on the principles of prevention science (Coie et al., 1993). For example, developmental considerations were important in designing a program that was specific to a particular gender and age group. This allowed for the incorporation of dynamic developmental process variables and an understanding of systems of influence. Developmental theory was used in conceptualizing risk and protective factors. The notion of developmental tasks for the development of competence was critical in the intervention design. The research approach involved specifying a universal preventive intervention to be administered to a population in which there would be the likelihood of beneficial gains and no potential adverse effects for participants. Preliminary evaluation used short-term effects to test the impact of the intervention with the recognition that such analysis would lead to a further refinement of the program model.
Empirical or evidence-based prevention programs are needed to evaluate the potential of broad-based prevention efforts for adolescents. Denmark (1999) has specifically called for research on the development and evaluation of interventions for adolescent girls. Barber and Crockett (1993) make a similar call for broad-based prevention research with adolescents that might address multiple target areas. In addition, Kazdin and Weisz (1998) advocate for applied research in community settings. Thus, the need for this type of research is well established. With these research issues in mind, the purpose of this article is to describe a gender-specific prevention program for early adolescent girls and to evaluate the outcomes related to its implementation in a community setting.
METHOD
Participants
The Go Grrrls Program was presented to school officials who authorized their school to be an experimental site for the evaluation of the program. During a lunchtime period, girls were recruited to participate in the program. If girls agreed to participate, parents and adolescents completed an informed-consent agreement. This process yielded a pool of 55 volunteers from the school which was located in a suburban area of the Southwest that includes both a rural and a more urbanized population. Descriptive data collected from the participants revealed a mean age of 12.7 years. The sample was culturally diverse: 64.8% were Caucasian, 18.5% mixed race, 11.1% Hispanic, 3.7% African American, and 1.9% Asian American. Approximately one third of the participants had a mother who attended college. Approximately half lived in single-parent homes, and one sixth received a free school lunch. Nearly two thirds had experienced menarche.
Group Leaders
The intervention was delivered in small groups composed of 8 to 10 girls per group. Each group was lead by two female leaders who were primarily graduate level social work or psychology students. Group leaders were interviewed and hired based on previous work experience with adolescents, group leadership skills, and demonstrated interest in the program. The intervention was scripted in a detailed curriculum that described how each session was to be conducted (see LeCroy & Daley, 2001). Included in this manual are the verbal scripts and handout materials used, as well as the themes the curriculum was attempting to influence. All group leaders were supervised to ensure that the curriculum was being carried out in a standardized manner.
Procedure
Evaluation of the program was based on a quasi-experimental design. Those who volunteered for the program constituted the experimental group. A matched group of participants in a physical education class constituted the comparison group. The comparison group was a no-treatment group. Participants were pretested and posttested, but otherwise engaged in their regular physical education activities. In the experimental group, seven to eight participants were assigned to one of three groups. All participants completed questionnaires before and after the intervention to assess performance on the dependent measures. Testing was completed in classrooms where girls were given instructions by a trained research assistant. Participants were informed that the information gathered would be confidential.
The Go Grrrls Curriculum
The curriculum content for the program consists of six developmental tasks considered critical for the healthy psychosocial development of early, adolescent girls in contemporary society: being a girl in today's society (gender role identity), establishing a positive self-image, establishing independence, making and keeping friends, when it all seems like too much (using resources), and planning for the future (LeCroy & Daley, 2001). Development is conceptualized as a process whereby young people must learn to adapt to the necessary tasks placed on them by the social environment. Healthy development for early adolescent girls is defined by these tasks. The prevention program for girls was designed to emphasize competencies that help girls learn the information and skills necessary to successfully meet the demands being placed on them by peers, family, and society. The broad-based prevention program is gender specific because there are unique tasks that early adolescent girls need to master in order to transition successfully to adulthood.
