Handbook of Adolescent Drug Use Prevention: Research, Intervention Strategies, and Practice

Drug abuse is a major societal problem that damages individuals and communities psychologically, physically, socially, and economically. One way to mitigate these consequences is to prevent drug abuse before it starts, and there is good evidence that this can be done effectively. The goal of this book is to help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers prevent drug abuse, primarily among adolescents who either have not used drugs before or have just started using them.

Highlighting the huge strides that prevention science has made in the past few decades and what still needs to be better understood, Lawrence Scheier, editor of the Handbook of Drug Use Etiology, has gathered eminent experts from various disciplines to create this comprehensive resource. Together, they distill what we know about effective programs and describe strategies to

•capitalize on protective factors and curtail risk factors in young people;
•prevent poor self-regulation and conduct disorders, which may lead to drug abuse;
•promote positive change in families, schools, and larger communities; and
•implement wide-scale and targeted media campaigns.

The evidence-based drug prevention programs and strategies described in this book can also create secondary benefits by improving overall health and wellness in individuals and communities.

Lawrence M. Scheier, PhD, is senior fellow at the Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania. He is also Chief of Science, Research Facilitation Team, Army Analytics Group, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of the Army.

Dr. Scheier is author of more than 100 articles and essays looking at studies of youth development, resilience, and factors that spur positive youth adaptation. He has also edited four books on grant writing, parenting, drug etiology, and drug prevention. His current research program emphasizes the role of psychological strengths and assets in health outcomes and health care utilization among U.S. Army soldiers.

Dr. Scheier is a nationally and internationally renowned scholar who blends theory and methodological tools with longitudinal data mining to examine psychosocial factors that influence growth and change in normal development. He has also examined programmatic-based change with many different school- and community-based drug prevention approaches. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, and he has engaged the private business sector in research on youth development and health.

Dr. Scheier has been a member of several national government panels, including the Media Campaign Advisory Team for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign and assisted the U.S. Department of Education in a large-scale program evaluation of school-based mandatory school drug testing. He has provided expert consulting to the federal government on matters related to youth drug treatment and school-based drug prevention programs.