No abstract

A beginning step in the prevention of child psychopathology is the identification of conditions associated with a disproportionately high incidence of behavior problems. Rutter and colleagues (British Journal of Psychiatry, 1975, 126, 493-509) have reported a dramatic increase in the probability of child adjustment difficulties as a function of multiple family stressors. However, few investigators have tested this association beginning in infancy. The present investigation examines this relationship at the ages of 1 and 2 with behavioral adjustment at age 3 among 100 low-income families. Broad support was found for the family adversity hypothesis, though sex differences were evident regarding individual correlates of problem behavior.

This study examined the psychometric characteristics of an index of substance use involvement using item response theory. The sample consisted of 292 men and 140 women who qualified for a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis and 293 men and 445 women who did not qualify for a SUD diagnosis. The results indicated that men had a higher probability of endorsing substance use compared with women. The index significantly predicted health, psychiatric, and psychosocial disturbances as well as level of substance use behavior and severity of SUD after a 2-year follow-up. Finally, this index is a reliable and useful prognostic indicator of the risk for SUD and the medical and psychosocial sequelae of drug consumption.

No abstract

Five articles present the results obtained in a multisite study funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP). The overarching goal of this effort was to determine the efficacy of reducing severity of factors during childhood that are known to magnify the risk for substance abuse (SA) in adolescence. The factors targeted for preventive intervention were Behavior Self-Regulation, Parental Involvement, School Bonding, and Social Competence. Conceptualizing SA within a developmental framework, the findings indicate that prevention directed at youth between 3-14 years of age has a significant positive impact on attenuating intermediary factors predisposing to SA. In this introduction, both the theoretical framework and rationale guiding this cooperative agreement and the key findings are described.