Automating Peer Learning to Reduce Alcohol Use and Related Deviant Behavior in Secondary School

Deviant peer affiliation is one of the most important predictors of alcohol use in adolescence. These affiliations arise when socially marginalized youth self-aggregate and reinforce alcohol use and other deviant activity (i.e., "deviant peer clustering"). Existing efficacious school-based prevention programs generally have small effects and can be difficult to disseminate with fidelity and challenging to sustain due to complex designs and significant time-and-money expenditures required for materials and training. Existing school-based prevention programs have not provided compelling value to schools, which has limited their dissemination. The investigators found significantly lower rates of deviant peer affiliation and alcohol/tobacco use and moderate-to-strong suppressive effects on bullying, victimization, stress, and emotional problems, and strong positive effects on student engagement, achievement, and social-emotional skills in peer-learning intervention schools compared to control schools. However, teachers in intervention schools faced challenges implementing peer learning, including: (1) design fidelity: ensuring that peer learning provided the most positive student experience by including all the essential design elements; and, (2) instructional support: managing the flow and timing of the activities to complete the lesson on time while dealing with unexpected disruptions. Investigators developed an initial version of a mobile software application (PeerLearning.net) that provided easy-to-use organizational templates with workflow support that teachers used to automate the design and delivery of peer learning lessons. In this cluster randomized trial of the app, the investigators will use a sample of middle and high schools and conduct pre/post student assessments of peer relations, alcohol/drug use, antisocial/prosocial behavior, and social-emotional skills. They will also collect information on stress, bullying/victimization and related outcomes, includi