PreVenture is a school-based, personality-focused substance use prevention program that aims to reduce the risk of substance use disorders (SUDs) associated with higher risk personality traits among adolescents. The program promotes well-being and empowers teens by helping them to better understand themselves and learn strategies and techniques to cope with personality-specific challenges. In two 90-minute group workshops, students receive information about their distinct personality traits, learn personality-specific coping skills and develop connections with other like-minded participants. In a recent study, students in the PreVenture intervention schools showed a 35% lower annual increase in the odds of developing a SUD than those in the control schools.1
Program description1,2
PreVenture is a short school-based program that aims to reduce the risk of SUD associated with higher risk personality traits in adolescents, such as impulsivity, sensation seeking and anxiety. It seeks to equip young people with personality-specific skills and tools to help them cope with developmental challenges to improve their mental health and build skills to reduce their risk of substance use.
The program is delivered at select public and private secondary schools (for students in grades 7 to 11) in the Greater Montreal area. It offers a supportive environment where trained facilitators guide students through peer group workshops, and it fosters connections among like-minded youth. The program promotes well-being and empowers adolescents by helping them to better understand themselves.
The program targets students who report higher scores on one of four personality subscales of the validated Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (anxiety sensitivity, hopelessness, impulsivity, and sensation seeking). After students complete an initial questionnaire, those who score one standard deviation above the school average on one of the four personality subscales are grouped with other students who have similar personality profiles. This selection criterion has been shown to identify 90% of students who will develop substance use or mental health difficulties over the next two years.
Groups of up to 12 students participate in two 90-minute group sessions. To engage participants in the workshops, PreVenture uses a colourful workbook, interactive exercises and group discussions guided by facilitators to teach the students personality-specific coping strategies and techniques. For example, students with high impulsivity scores receive information about this trait and are then guided to recognize impulsive reactions and apply cognitive and behavioural skills to manage them.
Workshop facilitators are school-based counsellors and staff trained to address special educational needs. Before delivering the workshops, facilitators receive a detailed instruction manual and participate in a three-day training program that includes thoroughly reviewing the therapeutic principles of the PreVenture intervention and engaging in role-play scenarios. Facilitators also receive a minimum of four hours of supervision and feedback from the clinical team after they conduct a full PreVenture intervention with students. Workshops are usually delivered by two school-based co-facilitators. If schools do not have the resources or staff to run the workshops, trained members of the clinical PreVenture research team (e.g., master’s level therapists, clinical psychology PhD students) deliver some or all of the workshops.
Results1
A cluster-randomized controlled trial examined the impact of PreVenture personality-focused interventions on reducing risk for SUD among selected adolescents who were at higher risk over a five-year period. The trial used data from the PreVenture program that was delivered at 31 public and private secondary schools in the Greater Montreal area between September 2012 and September 2013. All seventh grade students enrolled at these schools were invited to participate in the study (approximately 150 students at each school).
Schools were randomly assigned to the PreVenture intervention (15 schools) or to a control group (16 schools). Control schools provided treatment-as-usual services, which included school-based mental health and psychoeducational services, referrals to mental health and social services through local family medicine and/or local community clinics, and recommendations for specialized substance use treatment services for students who showed signs of emerging or obvious SUD.
All students at high risk who scored one standard deviation above the school mean on one of four personality subscales were included in the trial. There were 705 students in the PreVenture group and 964 students in the control group. The average age of participants was 12.8 years, with 47.7% identifying as female and 52.3% identifying as male. Among the 15 schools assigned to the intervention group, 86% of participants attended one workshop and 79% attended both workshops.
Once a year for five consecutive years, students participating in the trial rated their consumption of substances using a six-point frequency scale (0 = never, 5 = every day) for a variety of substances. Annual assessments with participants in both study groups were conducted through a web-based survey during class time within 12 months of each other, supervised by a research assistant and a school official.
The researchers looked at the year-by-year change in the probability of developing a SUD and found the following:
- A 21% reduction in the odds of developing a SUD at year 5: Among students who completed the final assessment, those in the intervention group had a 21% reduced odds of showing signs of a SUD compared with those in the control group (odds ratio = 0.79). This means that for every 52 students who were in the program, one case of SUD was prevented.
- A 35% reduction in the annual increase: Across the full five-year study period and the entire sample, students in the intervention schools showed a 35% lower annual increase in the odds of developing a SUD than those in the control schools (odds ratio = 0.655).
- By the end of the trial, participants in intervention schools were less likely to screen positive for a SUD than their age-, gender- and personality-matched counterparts in control schools.
What does this mean for service providers1
Results indicate that personality-focused interventions tailored to adolescents can protect against the development of SUD over a few years. A benefit of school-based approaches to substance use prevention is that they can be offered to most of the eligible population before the onset of substance use, and these programs offer unique opportunities to engage with young people who may be at higher risk of developing a SUD. Service providers could consider incorporating personality-focused programs into their work with adolescents who may be at higher risk of developing a SUD.
Related resources
PreVenture – PreVenture website
Land‑based Peer Leader Retreats for HIV and STI prevention – CATIE evidence brief
HIV Positive Youth Peer Engagement (HYPE) – CATIE case study
References
- Conrod P, Stewart SH, Seguin J et al. Five-year outcomes of a school-based personality-focused prevention program on adolescent substance use disorder: A cluster randomized trial. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2025;182(5):473-482. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20240042
- Conrod P, Mâsse B, Dehghan G et al. Data supplement for Conrod et al., Five-year outcomes of a school-based personality-focused prevention program on adolescent substance use disorder: A cluster randomized trial. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2025;182(5):1-18. https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/suppl/10.1176/appi.ajp.20240042/suppl_file/appi.ajp.20240042.ds001.pdf