Systematic Review of Mentoring to Prevent or Reduce Alcohol and Drug Use by Adolescents

Background alcohol and illicit drugs by adolescents is an important problem worldwide. ive ertake a systematic review of mentoring in preventing/reducing adolescentsʹ alcohol and drug use. ources rched 8 multidisciplinary electronic databases, the gray literature, and reference lists of included studies. Eligibility Criteria, Participants, and Interventions ized controlled trials (RCTs) of mentoring in adolescents to prevent/reduce alcohol or drug use. s Ts were included in this review. Four RCTs provided evidence on mentoring and alcohol use. The 2 that could be pooled showed less alcohol use by mentored youth. Six RCTs on mentoring and drug use were identified, 2 of which provided some evidence of the effect of mentoring in reducing drug use. tions RCT was at low risk of bias for randomization. None of the studies stated they concealed allocation. Of the 6 included studies, 1 was at high risk and 5 at unclear risk for attrition. sions and Implications of Key Findings CTs provided evidence on mentoring and alcohol use, and the 2 that could be pooled showed less use by mentored youth. The 6 RCTs that provided evidence on drug use could not be pooled. Two did provide some evidence that mentoring is associated with less drug use. Very few well-designed studies evaluate the effects of mentoring on adolescent drug and alcohol use.