CBU professor works to combat substance abuse in high schools

Riverside, Calif. (Nov. 21, 2024) – Dr. Robert LaChausse, professor of public health, has studied substance abuse prevention for over 25 years. His current project aims to understand which approaches steer teens away from alcohol and to implement the effective approaches at high schools in the Jurupa Valley.

“A common misperception is that if kids simply knew the dangers of substance use ­— alcohol or tobacco — how it could affect their life or their body, that they would not use alcohol or other drugs. And that's simply not true,” LaChausse said.

LaChausse has received numerous grants for his work on substance abuse prevention. He recently received the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act grant for the third year from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for $49,876. This grant will be used to assist Jurupa Valley schools implement an effective substance use prevention program. 

High schools in California are required to teach alcohol and drug prevention. However, what most schools do is not effective, LaChausse said. With the grant, he will run an alcohol and drug prevention program in the schools, training teachers and providing materials and support.

After 40 years of research, LaChausse and other social scientists know that scare tactics do not work. The approaches that do work are teaching kids skills, such as how to communicate assertively, how to make decisions, how to set goals and how to manage or avoid risk situations, LaChausse said.

“My focus now is figuring out how to get more people in the community to use these effective approaches and how this research can affect policy. Because policy really drives what people do,” he said.

The grant will continue to create awareness for and enforce the social host ordinance that was passed in Jurupa Valley a few years ago, which prohibits adults from giving teens alcohol in their presence.

The grant also will fund a life skills training program for parents in the community, which will take place three times a year. Parents will come to six sessions in the evening and learn from a health educator on how to better monitor their teenager and how to increase parent-child relationship quality.

“The idea is to increase not only the frequency of parent-teen communication about substance use but also to change how parents talk to their teens,” LaChausse said. “So instead of giving admonitions like, ‘Don't drink alcohol, alcohol's bad for you,’ it's more like, ‘Let's talk about what we expect in terms of your behavior.’”

Finally, the grant project includes a research component where LaChausse’s team will examine the effectiveness of the three approaches — teaching skills to high school students, enforcing the ordinance and conducting parent classes. That research can be used throughout the United States to help others improve their alcohol prevention programs.

Jessica Ducsay, professional research associate, is assisting with the study, along with several CBU undergraduate and graduate students who will help collect and analyze data and even provide childcare for parents attending the life skills classes.

LaChausse also will work closely with the City of Jurupa Valley, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and Jurupa Unified School District for this project.

“I think it's important to understand that the work we do as CBU professors should impact our community both at the local level and at the federal level. It's important for CBU professors to have a seat at the table, to be doing the type of research that's going to serve as the hands and feet of Christ on earth,” LaChausse said.