Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an evidence-based multicultural drug prevention curriculum (keepin' it R.E.A.L.) with American Indian youth. Using growth curve modeling, this study examined the developmental trajectory of drug use for American Indian youth, and compared this with the trajectory of youth from other ethnic groups at pre-intervention (Wave 1), post-intervention (Wave 2), and two follow up time periods (Waves 3 and 4).

Method: The study was implemented in 35 middle schools throughout metropolitan Phoenix, and utilized a quasi-experimental design with three intervention conditions (Latino version, Non-Latino version, and Multicultural version of the curriculum) and one comparison condition receiving “treatment as usual.” The assignment of schools to the treatment or comparison conditions was accomplished through block randomization that controlled for the size and ethnic composition of schools. This process yielded 8 to 10 schools within each condition. At pre-intervention (Wave 1), the sample size was 4148. Linear growth models (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002) were used to determine the developmental trajectory of drug use of American Indian and other youth participating in the keepin' it R.E.A.L. program.

Results: Results indicate that the program was significantly less effective for American Indian youth in curbing the amount of alcohol consumed (p < .01) and number of days that alcohol was used (p < .05) compared with other youth participating in the program. The program was also significantly less effective in curbing the amount of marijuana consumed (p < .05) and number of days of marijuana use (p < .05) for these youth, compared with other youth participating in the program. Graphically, results show a significantly steeper slope across all four waves for alcohol and marijuana use of American Indian youth, compared with other youth participating in the program.

Implications for Practice: Our findings raise questions as to the level of cultural specificity necessary for multicultural prevention programs to achieve positive effects on youth behaviors. Specifically, they inform the debate regarding whether drug prevention curricula need to be culturally “matched” to the program participants to achieve maximum benefit. While previous research suggests that broader, multicultural versions of drug prevention curricula may be more appropriate for minority youth (Hecht et al., 2003; Kulis et al., in press; Botvin et al., 1997), these findings might not be applicable to American Indian youth based on our findings. Culturally-specific drug prevention curricula for American Indian youth may need to address the unique sociohistorical and developmental contexts of these youth more specifically in order to achieve positive prevention effects.