Keeping teens from starting or increasing alcohol, vaping, or marijuana use during the move from high school to adulthood
Official title: Preventing Drug Use Onset and Progression toward Addiction during a CriticalTransition Period: Optimizing an Online Intervention for High School Seniors
Funded at Prevention Strategies, LLC · NIH-11322057 · Data updated 2026-11-12
An online program for high school seniors that teaches practical skills and changes social norms to help prevent drinking, vaping, and marijuana use as you graduate and move into young adulthood.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Prevention Strategies, LLC NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Greensboro, United States) |
| Project start | July 15, 2024 |
| Project end | April 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $549,618 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DA058697-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11322057 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are high school seniors (12th graders) approaching graduation, including both future college students and nonstudents who want help avoiding alcohol, vaping, or marijuana.
✕Less likely to help
People who already have an established substance use disorder or who are well past the transition age are unlikely to get benefit from this prevention-focused program.
What this research studies
You would be invited to try an online program designed just for high school seniors during the transition out of high school. The program focuses on changing what peers think is normal and teaches bystander and protective strategies to resist substance use. Designers will use human-centered feedback and iterative testing to make the program engaging and useful for students like you. The team aims to create a scalable, widely available intervention that also addresses vaping and other common young-adult substance risks.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this program could reduce the number of teens who start or increase substance use after graduation and lower future addiction risk.
How similar studies have gone: Norms-based and protective-strategy programs have reduced substance use among college students, but applying and optimizing these approaches specifically for high school seniors and nonstudents is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Prevention Strategies, LLC
Greensboro, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Rulison, Kelly Lin — Prevention Strategies, LLC
- Study coordinator: Rulison, Kelly Lin
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.