The Fourth R: Skills for Youth Relationships is a curriculum for 8th- and 9th-grade students that is designed to promote healthy and safe behaviors related to dating, bullying, sexuality, and substance use. Based on social learning theory and grounded in stages of social development, the Fourth R focuses on improving students’ relationships with peers and dating partners and avoiding symptomatic problem behaviors (e.g., violence, aggression).
The Fourth R is composed of three units: (1) personal safety and injury prevention, (2) healthy growth and sexuality, and (3) substance use and abuse. Each unit contains seven 75-minute classes, which are delivered by trained teachers and integrated into the school’s standard health and physical education curriculum. The Fourth R engages students with exercises to define and practice the rights and responsibilities associated with healthy relationships. The curriculum includes many examples of the types of conflicts faced by teens on a daily basis, and examples of both peer and dating conflicts are used concurrently (where possible) so that youth who are not dating will find the material relevant. The Fourth R makes extensive use of role-playing, with feedback from peers and teachers, to increase students’ interpersonal skills and problem-solving abilities. Boys and girls participate in slightly different exercises and activities, which are intended to raise their level of awareness of social norms and minimize gender-based defensive or hostile reactions.