Long-term Effects of Adolescent Substance Use Prevention on Participants, Partners, and their Children: Resiliency and Outcomes 15 Years Later During the COVID-19 Pandemic

We examined whether participation in adolescent substance use prevention programming can enhance long-term resilience into adulthood such that individuals were better able to cope with adversities during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, yielding benefits for the individuals, their partners/spouses, and children; 197 adults (28–30 years old) who entered the PROSPER randomized trial of substance use prevention programming as 6th graders and subsequently had become parents—and 128 of their partners—participated in two waves of long-term follow-up data collection. Respondents completed questionnaires on substance use, adjustment, parenting quality, and children’s mood and behavior problems 15 years after baseline, and again via an online survey in the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results were mixed, with some indications of better adjustment of PROSPER intervention compared to control participants during the early phase of the pandemic (less increase in alcohol use and less decrease in parenting warmth) and their children (lower levels of externalizing and internalizing problems) but several null results as well (no differences in other substance use behaviors, other parenting measures, or parent depression). Adolescent substance use prevention programs can foster long-term individual and interpersonal resilience factors that allow participants—as well as their children—to adapt and cope with unforeseen periods of acute stress and adversity with less deterioration in health and well-being.