A cross-sectional survey design investigated the relationship of school and home self-esteem to history of substance use, membership in alternative education (non-mainstream) school programs, gender, and race. Self-esteem was assessed using the Hare Self-Esteem Scale. Four hundred eleven sixth grade students completed the survey. Results revealed home self-esteem related inversely to tobacco use (F = 15.39, df = 2,343, p < .0001), alcohol use (F = 12.08, df = 2,343, p < .0001), and use of other drugs (F = 12.28, df = 2,338, p < .0001). Similarly, school self-esteem related inversely to tobacco use (F = 15.47, df = 2,354, p < .0001), alcohol use (F = 8.74, df = 2,353, p = .0002), and use of other drugs (F = 9.30, df = 2,350, p < .0001). Regardless of type of drug, recent users had the lowest self-esteem scores on both subscales and never users had the highest scores. Subjects enrolled in non-mainstream programs had significantly lower home and school self-esteem scores than did subjects in mainstream classes. Race and gender were not associated significantly with self-esteem. Implications for youth substance use prevention and research are discussed.

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A randomized, posttest-only experimental design was used to compare the date-rape attitudes of university students who were exposed to a mixed-gender date-rape workshop (n = 163) with those of students who were not exposed (n = 168). A previously validated instrument, the 25-item Date Rape Attitudes Survey (DRAS), was used as the criterion measure. Three hypotheses were tested, with the following results: (1) Men reported attitudes that were more tolerant of date rape than those reported by women (ie, the men were more likely to condone date rape); (2) students in the control group reported attitudes that were more tolerant of date rape than those reported by students in the treatment group; and (3) men exhibited a greater effect from the program than did women. Finally, the authors discuss implications of the study and offer recommendations for future research evaluating date-rape prevention programs.