WWC Quick Review: SATURN Study May 2008

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What is this study about?

This study examines whether the Student Athlete Testing Using Random Notification (SATURN) program affects illicit drug and alcohol use among student athletes.

About 1,400 freshman and sophomore student athletes in 18 Oregon high schools participated in the study.

Nine high schools were randomly assigned to implement SATURN immediately, and the other nine were assigned to a control group that deferred SATURN implementation until after the study period.

Self-reported rates of illicit drug and alcohol use were collected through multiple rounds of surveys that occurred over a two-year period.

What did the study authors report?

The study authors report lower rates of prior-year drug use among SATURN students relative to control students at two of the four follow-up points. They find no statistically significant differences in past-month use at any follow-up.

However, the WWC does not consider these results to be conclusive because of the high rate of sample attrition and because of initial differences between the research groups that may bias their results.

WWC quick reviews are based on the evidence published in the report cited and rely on effect sizes and significance levels as reported by study authors. WWC does not confirm study authors’ findings or contact authors for additional information about the study.