Description de l’implantation d’un programme de prévention des problèmes de comportement à l’adolescence

This paper describes a comprehensive approach to preventing a variety of adolescent problem behaviors, including drug use, delinquency, violence, school dropout and teenage pregnancy. The experimental intervention is designed to enhance protection and reduce risk for these adolescent problem behaviors. The project, Raising Healthy Children (RHC), extends earlier work conducted in the Seattle Social Development Project (Hawkins, Catalano, Morrison, O'Donnell, Abbott & Day, 1992; O'Donnell, Hawkins, Catalano, Abbott & Day, 1995). The interventions are guided by the Social Development Model (Catalano & Hawkins, 1996), a theory that explains the development of both prosocial and antisocial behavior. Because risk and protective factors for these problems are found in multiple social domains, the interventions address these factors through developmentally appropriate strategies in the three major socializing institutions, the family, school, and peer groups. The "school intervention strategy " provides a series of instructional improvement workshops and classroom coaching designed to increase student's commitment and attachment to school while reducing academic failure. The "family intervention strategy " provides parenting workshops and home-based services to increase parents' skills in child rearing, to increase attachment and commitment to the family while decreasing family management problems. The "peer intervention strategy" provides children the opportunity to learn and practice social and emotional skills in the classroom and in social situations. These combined strategies are described in detail. Preliminary analyses reveal significant effects of these strategies on reducing early risk and increasing protection

Social norms in the development of adolescent substance use: a longitudinal analysis of the International Youth Development Study.

Identifying specific aspects of peer social norms that influence adolescent substance use may assist international prevention efforts. This study examines two aggregated measures of social norms in the school setting and their predictive association with substance (alcohol, tobacco and marijuana) use 2 years later in a large cross-national population-based cohort of adolescents. The primary hypothesis is that in Grade 7 both "injunctive" school norms (where students associate substance use with "coolness") and "descriptive" norms (where student substance use is common) will predict Grade 9 substance use. Data come from the International Youth Development Study, including 2,248 students (51.2% female) in the US and Australia attending 121 schools in Grade 7. Independent variables included injunctive norms (aggregating measures of school-wide coolness ratings of each substance use) and descriptive norms (aggregating the prevalence of school substance use) in Grade 7. Dependent variables included binge drinking and current use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana in Grade 9. Associations between each type of school-wide social norm and substance use behaviors in Grade 9 were tested using multilevel logistic regression, adjusting for covariates. In unadjusted models, both injunctive and descriptive norms each significantly predicted subsequent substance use. In fully adjusted models, injunctive norms were no longer significantly associated with Grade 9 use, but descriptive norms remained significantly associated with tobacco and marijuana use in the expected direction. The findings identify descriptive social norms in the school context as a particularly important area to address in adolescent substance use prevention efforts

Teaching Parenting Skills in a Methadone Treatment Setting

Family factors significantly affect children’s risk of substance abuse, delinquency, and other problem behaviors (Arthur, Hawkins, Pollard, Catalano, & Baglioni, 2002). Children of substance abusers represent a particularly high-risk population. Prenatal exposure to addictive substances and the medical complications that may arise are important factors that, from conception, place this population at high risk of drug abuse and other problem behaviors (Griffith, Azuma, & Chasnoff, 1994). As children of substance abusers mature, their lives are characterized by exposure to continued drug and alcohol abuse by family members, recurrent or chronic illnesses, frequent moves, financial troubles, legal conflicts, family disorganization, and family conflict (Keller, Catalano, Haggerty, & Fleming, 2002; Kolar, Brown, Haertzen, & Michaelson, 1994). Furthermore, substance-abusing parents tend to have poorer family management practices than nonabusers (Kolar et al.). Substance-abusing parents in treatment are dealing not only with their addiction, the possibility of relapse, and struggles with employment and living arrangements, but also with their role as parents and the influence of their addiction on their children (Greif, 2005)

Effectiveness of Prevention Interventions with Youth at High Risk of Drug Abuse

A recent report describes three types of prevention programs: universal, selected, and indicated (Institute of Medicine 1994). Universal prevention approaches are those that serve the entire population who share a general risk to the disorder without regard to specific risk status. Selected prevention approaches serve those whose precursors of problem behaviors are elevated but who have not yet manifested the problem behavior to be prevented. Indicated prevention approaches serve those who have initiated the problem behavior to be prevented but have not yet developed a serious or chronic behavior problem and do not warrant at that time a clinical diagnosis of the disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R or DSM-IV). The effects of universally applied prevention approaches for substance abuse and other problems are well documented in the literature (Hansen et al. 1990; Hawkins et al. 1992; Moskowitz 1989). Less attention has been given to the effects of prevention approaches with selected youth whose specific characteristics put them at higher risk. This chapter first examines several definitions of high-risk youth and chooses one based on youths’ exposure to consistently identified, longitudinal correlates or risk factors for substance abuse. This discussion is followed by a selective review of prevention program research studies chosen for their demonstrated effectiveness of program promise for reducing risk among high-risk populations

Concentrated Perchlorate at the Mars Phoenix Landing Site: Evidence for Thin Film Liquid Water on Mars

NASA\u27s Phoenix mission, which landed on the northern plains of Mars in 2008, returned evidence of the perchlorate anion distributed evenly throughout the soil column at the landing site. Here, we use spectral data from Phoenix\u27s Surface Stereo Imager to map the distribution of perchlorate salts at the Phoenix landing site, and find that perchlorate salt has been locally concentrated into subsurface patches, similar to salt patches that result from aqueous dissolution and redistribution on Earth. We propose that thin films of liquid water are responsible for translocating perchlorate from the surface to the subsurface, and for concentrating it in patches. The thin films are interpreted to result from melting of minor ice covers related to seasonal and long-term obliquity cycles

Policy Recommendations for Meeting the Grand Challenge to Ensure Healthy Development for All Youth

This brief was created forSocial Innovation for America’s Renewal, a policy conference organized by the Center for Social Development in collaboration with the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare, which is leading theGrand Challenges for Social Work initiative to champion social progress. The conference site includes links to speeches, presentations, and a full list of the policy briefs

Supporting addiction affected families effectively: a feasibility randomised controlled trial of a psychosocial intervention delivered by lay counsellors in Goa, India.

Background: Despite evidence of the burden of alcohol use on families, there is a lack of adequate and targeted support. We aimed to examine the feasibility, acceptability and impact of Supporting Addiction Affected Families Effectively (SAFE), a brief lay counsellor-delivered intervention for affected family members (AFMs). Methods: Parallel arm feasibility randomised controlled trial [1:1 allocation to SAFE or enhanced usual care (EUC)]. The primary outcome was mean difference in symptom score assessed by the Symptom Rating Test and secondary outcomes were difference in coping, impact and social support scores measured by the Coping Questionnaire, Family Member Impact Questionnaire, and Alcohol, Drugs and the Family Social Support Scale. Process data examining feasibility and acceptability were also collected. The primary analysis was intention to treat at the 3-month endpoint. Results: In total, 115 AFMs were referred to the trial, and 101 (87.8%) consenting participants were randomised to the two arms (51 SAFE arm and 50 EUC arm). Seventy-eight per cent completed treatment, with the mean number of sessions being 4.25 sessions and mean duration being 53 min. Ninety-five per cent completed outcome assessment. There were no statistically significant differences between SAFE and EUC on any of the outcome measures, except for the between-group adjusted mean differences for social support scores (AMD −6.05, 95% CI −10.98 to −1.12, p = 0.02). Conclusion: Our work indicates that it is possible to identify AFMs through community networking, and have high rates of participation for lay counsellor-delivered psychosocial care. Nevertheless, there is a need for further intervention development to ensure its contextual relevance and appropriateness