Experimental evaluation of "go grrrls" preventive intervention for early adolescent girls

This article is an evaluation of a preventive intervention developed for early adolescent girls. The 12-session curriculum was designed to address developmental tasks considered critical for the healthy psychosocial development of early adolescent girls in contemporary society. The program content included the following units: being a girl in today's society, establishing a positive self image, establishing independence, making and keeping friends, learning to obtain help and find access to resources, and planning for the future. A total of 118 participants were recruited from middle schools and randomly assigned to a treatment (N = 59) or control group (N = 59) condition. The effects of the intervention were assessed using eight different measures such as body image, self efficacy, and attitude toward attractiveness. Results revealed significant improvement in the treatment group and significant differences between the treatment and control group on the key outcome measures. The study suggests that a "universal" prevention program can produce meaningful effects. Editors' Strategic Implications: This paper details a strategy that shows promise. The author builds an argument for a developmentally appropriate prevention program that is broadly focused on positive development for early adolescent girls. Using an ethnically diverse sample and an experimental, pre-post design, short-term changes in some domains (e.g., self efficacy, body image) emerged for the experimental group. This prevention program awaits comparisons with other health promotion programs for girls and further validation with psychometrically established measures, larger samples across sites, and tests of longer-term impact on behavior and functioning. © 2004 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.