Promoting high school graduation in a predominantly Latino/a community

TL;DRAbstract

Research has shown that school-based prevention programs can prevent substance misuse and promote graduation. Few studies have investigated high school-based programs, their long-term effects, and their intervening processes. Prosocial bonding to an entity outside of oneself has been theoretically (Finn, 1989; Hirschi, 1969) and empirically (McNeely & Falci, 2004) associated with positive behavioral outcomes for youth and rarely studied as a mediator of school-based prevention program effects. The current study examined the impact of Peer Group Connection (PGC) on students’ marijuana use and high school graduation. This study also examined school belonging as a mediator and acculturation as a moderator of potential program effects. In 2005, 268 students (92% Latino) were randomized to the control (n = 175) or program (n = 93) condition. Trained upperclassmen delivered weekly forty-minute, manualized sessions to ninth grade students. Latent growth curve analysis, using baseline, pos

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