Richard F. Catalano

Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early adulthood: implications for substance abuse prevention.

The authors suggest that the most promising route to effective strategies for the prevention of adolescent alcohol and other drug problems is through a risk-focused approach. This approach requires the identification of risk factors for drug abuse, identification of methods by which risk factors have been effectively addressed, and application of these methods to appropriate high-risk and general population samples in controlled studies. The authors review risk and protective factors for drug abuse, assess a number of approaches for drug abuse prevention potential with high-risk groups, and make recommendations for research and practice.

Positive Youth Development in the United States: Research Findings on Evaluations of Positive Youth Development Programs

This article summarizes a much lengthier one that appeared in Prevention and Treatment. The earlier article grew out of a project initiated by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The Positive Youth Development Evaluation project described why policy makers, practitioners, and prevention scientists advocated a shift in approach for how youth issues are addressed in this country. The Positive Youth Development Evaluation project sought to define how youth development programs have been defined in the literature and then to locate, through a structured search, strong evaluations of these programs and summarize the outcomes of these evaluations. In the current article, we explain why prevention has shifted from a single problem focus to a focus on factors that affect both positive and problem youth development, describe what is meant by positive youth development, and summarize what we know about the effectiveness of positive youth development programs.

Measuring Risk and Protective Factors for Use, Delinquency, and Other Adolescent Problem Behaviors

Risk and protective factors predictive of adolescent problem behaviors such as substance abuse and delinquency are promising targets for preventive intervention. Community planners should assess and target risk and protective factors when designing prevention programs. This study describes the development, reliability, and validity of a self-report survey instrument for adolescents ages 11 to 18 that measures an array of risk and protective factors across multiple ecological domains as well as adolescent problem behaviors. The instrument can be used to assess the epidemiology of risk and protection in youth populations and to prioritize specific risk and protective factors in specific populations as targets for preventive intervention.Risk and protective factors predictive of adolescent problem behaviors such as substance abuse and delinquency are promising targets for preventive intervention. Community planners should assess and target risk and protective factors when designing prevention programs. This study describes the development, reliability, and validity of a self-report survey instrument for adolescents ages 11 to 18 that measures an array of risk and protective factors across multiple ecological domains as well as adolescent problem behaviors. The instrument can be used to assess the epidemiology of risk and protection in youth populations and to prioritize specific risk and protective factors in specific populations as targets for preventive intervention.

Predictors of Early High School Dropout: A Test of Five Theories.

This study compared the adequacy of 5 theories to predict dropping out of high school before the 10th grade. These theories include full mediation by academic achievement and direct effects related to general deviance, deviant affiliation, family socialization, and structural strains. Nested latent variable models were used to test these theories on prospective data from an ethnically diverse urban sample. Poor academic achievement mediated the effect of all independent factors on school dropout, although general deviance, bonding to antisocial peers, and socioeconomic status also retained direct effects on dropping out. Therefore, none of the theories tested was fully adequate to explain the data, although partial support was obtained for each theory. Implications for prevention of early high school dropout are discussed.

Developmental risk factors for youth violence.

PURPOSE To replicate earlier research findings on risk factors for youth violence and to explore the effects on violent behavior of constructs shown to increase risk for other problem behaviors, within a developmental frame. METHODS Data were from the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP), a prospective study involving a panel of youths followed since 1985. Potential risk factors for violence at age 18 years were measured at ages 10, 14, and 16 years. Bivariate relationships involving risk factor constructs in the individual, family, school, peer and community domains and violence were examined at each age to assess changes in their strength of prediction over time. Attention was also given to the additive strength of increasing numbers of risk factors in the prediction of violence at age 18 years. A final set of analyses explored the extent to which youths were correctly classified as having committed a violent act (or not) at age 18 years on the basis of their overall level of risk at ages 10, 14, and 16 years. RESULTS At each age, risk factors strongly related to later violence were distributed among the five domains. Ten of 15 risk factors constructs measured at age 10 years were significantly predictive of violence at age 18 years. Twenty of 25 constructs measured at age 14 years and 19 of 21 constructs measured at age 16 years were significantly predictive of later violence. Many constructs predicted violence from more than one developmental point. Hyperactivity (parent rating), low academic performance, peer delinquency, and availability of drugs in the neighborhood predicted violence from ages 10, 14, and 16 years. Analyses of the additive effects of risk factors revealed that youths exposed to multiple risks were notably more likely than others to engage in later violence. The odds for violence of youths exposed to more than five risk factors compared to the odds for violence of youths exposed to fewer than two risk factors at each age were seven times greater at age 10 years, 10 times greater at age 14 years, and nearly 11 times greater at age 16 years. However, despite information gained from all significant risk factors, the overall accuracy in predicting youths who would go on to commit violent acts was limited. CONCLUSIONS Findings from the study have important implications for preventive intervention programs. Prevention efforts must be comprehensive and developmentally sensitive, responding to large groups or populations exposed to multiple risks.

Promoting science-based prevention in communities.

In the past decade, prevention science has emerged as a discipline built on the integration of life course development research, community epidemiology, and preventive intervention trials [Am. Psychol. 48 (1993) 1013; Am. J. Community Psychol. 27 (1999) 463; Kellam, S. G., & Rebok, G. W. (1992). Building developmental and etiological theory through epidemiologically based preventive intervention trials. In J. McCord & R. E. Tremblay (Eds.), Preventing antisocial behavior: interventions from birth through adolescence (pp. 162-195). New York: Guilford Press.]. Prevention science is based on the premise that empirically verifiable precursors (risk and protective factors) predict the likelihood of undesired health outcomes including substance abuse and dependence. Prevention science postulates that negative health outcomes like alcohol abuse and dependence can be prevented by reducing or eliminating risk factors and enhancing protective factors in individuals and their environments during the course of development. A growing number of interventions have been found to be effective in preventing adolescent tobacco, alcohol, and other drug abuse, delinquency, violence, and related health risk behaviors by reducing risk and enhancing protection. During the same decade, comprehensive community-based interventions to prevent adolescent health and behavior problems have been widely implemented in the U.S. with federal and foundation support. Despite the advances in the science base for effective preventive interventions and the investments in community-wide preventive interventions, many communities continue to invest in prevention strategies with limited evidence of effectiveness [Am. J. Public Health 84 (1994) 1394; J. Res. Crime Delinq. 39 (2002) 3; J. Community Psychol. 28 (2000) 237; J. Community Psychol. 28 (2000) 237; J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 67 (1999) 590; Eval. Program Plann. 20 (1997) 367.]. Translating prevention science into community prevention systems has emerged as a priority for prevention research [J. Community Psychol. 28 (2000) 363; J. Appl. Behav. Anal. 28 (1995) 479.]. The Communities That Care (CTC) prevention operating system is a field-tested strategy for activating communities to use prevention science to plan and implement community prevention systems. CTC provides tools that assist communities to use local data on risk and protective factors to identify elevated risks and depressed protective factors in geographic areas where levels of risk are high and levels of protection are low and then to implement tested, effective preventive interventions that reduce the identified risks and enhance protection in these [Developmental Research and Programs. (1997). Communities That Care: a comprehensive prevention program. Seattle, WA: Author; Developmental Research and Programs. (2000a). Communities That Care: a comprehensive prevention program. Seattle: Author; Hawkins, J. D., Catalano, R. F., et al. (1992). Communities That Care: action for drug abuse prevention (1st ed.). A joint publication of the Jossey-Bass social and behavioral science series and the Jossey-Bass education series. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass]. The CTC system is widely implemented, and process evaluations of CTC suggest that it can assist communities to develop more effective prevention systems. This paper describes the background and use of the CTC operating system and results of evaluations of implementation of the system.

Prevention science and positive youth development: Competitive or cooperative frameworks?

PURPOSE To examine the convergence in the critiques and recommendations for the future of programs to promote healthy development and prevent problem behaviors among children and adolescents. METHODS A review of literature captures two streams of thought, those promoting positive youth development approaches to youth programming and those promoting prevention science approaches to youth programming. RESULTS Results suggest that advocates of positive youth development and prevention science have similar critiques of single-problem-focused prevention programs in the 1980s and early 1990s, and have similar recommendations for the future of youth programming. Further, review of data on youth development suggests that it is important to focus on risk and protection in preventing adolescent problems as well as in promoting positive youth development. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that both youth development and prevention science approaches have grown from similar roots and make similar recommendations for the future of youth programming. Further, data on precursors suggest that focusing on promoting protection and reducing risk is likely to prevent problems and promote positive youth development. Yet advocates of these approaches often are at odds, suggesting that the approaches provide different paradigmatic approaches to youth programming. We conclude that cooperation between these two approaches would further progress in the field of youth programming.

Worldwide application of prevention science in adolescent health

The burden of morbidity and mortality from non-communicable disease has risen worldwide and is accelerating in low-income and middle-income countries, whereas the burden from infectious diseases has declined. Since this transition, the prevention of non-communicable disease as well as communicable disease causes of adolescent mortality has risen in importance. Problem behaviours that increase the short-term or long-term likelihood of morbidity and mortality, including alcohol, tobacco, and other drug misuse, mental health problems, unsafe sex, risky and unsafe driving, and violence are largely preventable. In the past 30 years new discoveries have led to prevention science being established as a discipline designed to mitigate these problem behaviours. Longitudinal studies have provided an understanding of risk and protective factors across the life course for many of these problem behaviours. Risks cluster across development to produce early accumulation of risk in childhood and more pervasive risk in adolescence. This understanding has led to the construction of developmentally appropriate prevention policies and programmes that have shown short-term and long-term reductions in these adolescent problem behaviours. We describe the principles of prevention science, provide examples of efficacious preventive interventions, describe challenges and potential solutions to take efficacious prevention policies and programmes to scale, and conclude with recommendations to reduce the burden of adolescent mortality and morbidity worldwide through preventive intervention.

Review of risk and protective factors of substance use and problem use in emerging adulthood

This review examines the evidence for longitudinal predictors of substance use and abuse in emerging adulthood. Nationally representative data from the 2007 National Survey on Drug use and Health suggest that many substance use problems reach their peak prevalence during emerging adulthood (usually defined as the period from age 18 to age 26). This stage of development is characterized by rapid transitions into new social contexts that involve greater freedom and less social control than experienced during adolescence. Concurrent with this newfound independence is an increase in rates of substance use and abuse. Understanding the risk and protective factors associated with emerging adult substance use problems is an important step in developing interventions targeting those problems. While multiple reviews have examined risk and protective factors for substance use during adolescence, and many of these earlier predictors may predict emerging adult substance use, few studies have focused primarily on the emerging adult outcomes examining predictors from both adolescence and emerging adulthood. This review used the databases PubMed and PsycInfo to identify articles pertaining to longitudinal predictors of substance use problems in emerging adulthood, building from the conceptual framework presented in a review on risk and protective factors for adolescent substance abuse by Hawkins and colleagues (Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992). Predictors identified as predictors of substance use in adolescence, sometimes decreased in strength and in one case reversed direction. Unique predictors in emerging adulthood were also identified. Implications for prevention science during adolescence and emerging adulthood are discussed as well as suggestions for future research.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Adolescent Drug Abuse Treatment, Assessment of Risks for Relapse, and Promising Approaches for Relapse Prevention

A review of controlled evaluations of adolescent and other drug abuse treatment programs concludes that some treatment is better than no treatment, that few comparisons of treatment method have consistently demonstrated the superiority of one method over another, that posttreatment relapse rates are high, and that more controlled studies of adolescent treatment which allow evaluation of the elements of treatment are needed. In the absence of the clear superiority of specific treatment techniques, it is suggested that examination of factors related to relapse can provide an empirical base for identifying effective treatment approaches. Pretreatment, during-treatment, and posttreatment factors related to relapse are reviewed from existing studies of adolescent treatment. Program components are suggested which have been associated with or hold promise for reducing factors associated with higher relapse rates and increasing factors associated with lower relapse rates.