This paper critically reviews recent research exploring risk and protective factors for the development of problematic substance use in populations of young people. Specifi c populations of young people who are most vulnerable to developing problematic patterns of use are identifi ed, and alterations to methods of data collection which would improve the ability of local authorities to monitor these populations and more effi ciently target them for early preventative interventions are highlighted. It is argued that social-psychological research techniques and approaches should be used to complement a risk and protection-focused approach in order to improve the design and evaluation of interventions, and provide decision-aids for practitioners when assessing the needs of vulnerable young people. Examples are provided to demonstrate the utility of social psychology in this regard, and the paper concludes with specifi c recommendations for future research and services. Copyright (DfES, 2005) has linked drug misuse with the Every Child Matters Agenda, and emphasised a need to improve service cooperation, accountability, delivery, prevention and early intervention with vulnerable individuals, and to build service and workforce capacity. The UK Drug Strategy (HM Government, 2008) has pledged to expand approaches to prevention to focus on children and families before problems arise, and to take a wide preventative view that is focused not only on substances themselves, but also on other substanceuse-related risk factors. This paper will critically review recent research exploring risk and protective factors for the development of problematic substance use in populations of young people. Risk and protection-focused research is useful because a range of identifi ed risk factors can be viewed as markers of vulnerability for substance misuse; and risk factors related to specifi c identifi able group memberships can be used to help local authorities target relevant services (e.g. drugs education/outreach, social work support) at high risk populations of young people. However, in real life, many risk factors for the development of substance misuse exist on continuums, rather than in dichotomous 'all or nothing' form. There are degrees of offending and degrees of homelessness (Goulden and Sondhi, 2001a); being offi cially accepted as homeless by a local authority is different from being insecurely housed, or 'being a runaway'. This paper argues that where data collection methods by local authorities and their partners fail to refl ect differences in the degree to which young people experience specifi c risk factors, valuable opportunities for early intervention and preventative work are missed. Moreover, while a risk and protection-focused approach is useful for identifying areas of vulnerability which can be targeted to try to promote et al., 2007) noted that beliefs explain just as much variance in drug use as risk factors do. In order to work more effectively with populations of vulnerable young people, we need more exp...

This article presents exploratory qualitative data from a pragmatic sample (n = 11) of vulnerable young people (aged 13-18 years) in contact with youth services. Data were gathered during a substance-use services needs assessment project undertaken in a rural county in the United Kingdom. Semi-structured qualitative interviews explored engagement with services and narratives of episodes of substance-use information-seeking. A range of different information sources were reported, but consensus was expressed regarding source credibility. Parents, particularly mothers, and older siblings were perceived as the most credible. The range of information sources utilized by young people is discussed in terms of furthering research understanding of credibility of sources of information. Implications for services and for future research are discussed.