By margins of 3-to-1 or more, American parents believe that efforts to prevent adolescent alcohol and drug use and violence are effective.

That's the opinion of more than 17,000 parents across the United States who responded to the Pride Survey for Parents. They showed strong support for efforts such as school-based drug education, community coalitions, student assistance programs and after-school activities.

Two-thirds of those parents (66%) said their school does a good job of teaching students about the harm of drug use, and nearly half (49%) said their community has an anti-drug coalition.

Parents were asked to rate various strategies to keep young people away from alcohol and drugs.

A majority (56%) said school-based alcohol and drug education was effective, compared to just 16% who called the strategy ineffective – a more than 3-to-1 margin.

Roughly two-thirds of parents (63%) said that schools keeping parents informed of drug use and violent occurrences is an effective strategy.

The work of community coalitions was rated effective by 55%, compared to just 18% who said ineffective.

After-school activities, and early assistance and treatment for students who have begun drug use, were viewed as effective by 60% or more of parents.

While giving high marks to community institutions, nearly three out of four respondents (71%) said that parents themselves are most responsible for keeping young people healthy and safe.

The parents responded to the Pride Surveys Questionnaire for Parents during the 2004-05 school year. They were asked to rate 21 separate strategies to keep children away from alcohol, drugs and violence. Overall, 60% of the parents found the strategies effective; 17% found them ineffective; and 23% were undecided.

Full list of 21 strategies
Full report
More about the Parent Questionnaire