Promoting science-based prevention in communities

Drug use and dependence in cocaine dependent subjects, community-based individuals, and their siblings

“…This study highlights the high prevalence of substance use and dependence by individuals in the community where cocaine dependent subjects live. Substance use and dependence is not distributed evenly over our nation; instead, there are clusters and communities with elevated rates of drug use (Crum et al, 1996;Hawkins et al, 2002;Schroeder et al, 2001). The finding highlights the importance of recruiting comparison subjects from the neighborhood where dependent subjects live.…”

“…In general, lower educational attainment and decreased income are seen in individuals with substance dependence . Community factors are also important and a clustering of drug use and dependence is seen in neighborhoods (Hawkins et al, 2002). Substance dependence is thus a complex disorder that includes important contributions of biologic background (such as genetic predispositions), individual environmental risk factors (educational attainment and income), and community-based exposures.…”

A Systematic Review of Life Skill Development Through Sports Programs Serving Socially Vulnerable Youth

“…Socially vulnerable youth represent a broad group, ranging from youth living in areas of low socioeconomic status (SES) to youth receiving residential care or nonresidential counseling. A common denominator is that they face stressors in their everyday life, such as income poverty, poor family management, low housing quality, and peers being involved in problem behavior (Feinberg, Jones, Greenberg, Osgood, & Bontempo, 2010;Hawkins, Catalano, & Arthur, 2002). These stressors may lead to feelings of incompetence, social disconnectedness, negative experiences with societal institutions (e.g., family, school, and health care), a lack of ambition (Haudenhuyse, Theeboom, & Skille, 2014;Vettenburg, 1998), and a reduced chance for participating in meaningful activities, such as sports (Vandermeerschen, Vos, & Scheerder, 2013).…”

Toward Dynamic Adaptation of Psychological Interventions for Child and Adolescent Development and Mental Health

“…One step toward becoming more developmental is to utilize screening and assessment methods and implement early detection systematically to inform best practice. For example, the Communities That Care approach (Hawkins, Catalano, & Arthur, 2002) combines strategies of systematic assessments of risk and protective factors within a certain community with establishing local prevention networks for implementing tailored, evidence-based prevention programs. This approach is a good example of the incorporation of scientific knowledge from different research fields (e.g., developmental psychopathology, systematic assessment, implementation research, evaluation studies) to improve the administration of evidence-based practices.…”