Underage Substance Use Prevention

Drug and alcohol use among the nation's youth remains a problem. While evidence-based prevention programs are available, practitioners, especially those in smaller, community-based settings, often have difficulty using them. This is because resources are limited, prevention is complex, and communities often lack the capacity to adapt and implement “off the shelf” programs. A result of this “gap” between research and practice is that communities and schools often do not use the most evidence-supported programs, and often implement them poorly when they do.

For example, a recent report (PDF) by the Department of Education showed that fewer than 10 percent of schools were implementing evidence-based drug prevention programs, and fewer than half of those schools were doing a good job of implementing those programs. Common ways to bridge this gap, such as information dissemination, fail to change practice or outcomes at the local level, in part because they do not sufficiently address capacity or use community input. Building a community's prevention capacity through greater collaboration between researchers and practitioners could improve the quality of prevention and outcomes.

While we may think that it makes intuitive sense to encourage at-risk youth to seek employment, our findings in recent work funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse suggest that the opposite could be true.

Employment can build character for many teens, especially as they balance work and school, learn how to manage their paychecks, and are accountable to their employers and coworkers. However, not all teens reap these benefits—and in fact, for some teens, employment can lead to unwanted habits and behaviors.

In honor of National Underage Drinking Prevention Day, there will be a live, interactive webcast today (May 21) about successful approaches and resources to prevent underage drinking.

The event is free, and sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)/Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

The webcast will take place 1–2:30 p.m. EDT and can be viewed at https://www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/TownHallMeetings/resources/trainings/webcasts/getting-to-outcomes/default.aspx.