48 - Adolescent Neurocognitive Development and School-Based Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment

Abstract

Drug use often begins during adolescence and continues into adulthood. Adolescence is marked by several key development-related changes, including neurocognitive changes. Throughout adolescence the brain is undergoing structural changes that are likely to correspond to the changes occurring in cognitive function. Cognitive abilities, particularly those associated with self-control and self-regulation, are not fully developed until late adolescence or early adulthood. Conversely, novelty-seeking tendencies seem to increase significantly during adolescence. Thus due to higher levels of novelty seeking and poorer abilities to control impulses and make protective decisions, adolescents are vulnerable to initiate drug use or develop drug use dependence and comorbid mental health disorders. Schools are a setting in which many adolescents can be reached with drug use prevention and treatment programs. In this chapter we highlight the relevance of schools as a setting for adolescent drug use prevention and treatment practices that attempt to address the neurocognitive needs of adolescents. We discuss some evidence from school-based as well as laboratory research that suggests that suitable training may improve the executive function of the adolescent brain, which may in turn have protective implications for adolescent drug use prevention and treatment. However, we note that a significant amount of future research is needed to refine such programs, incorporate them into school-based programming, and test their effects on neurocognition in large and diverse samples.