Advances and Challenges in Preventing Childhood and Adolescent Problem Behavior

Abstract

Prevention has recently been heralded as an effective way to reduce the adverse effects associated with childhood and adolescent problem behavior. Bolstered by new evidence indicating that empirically based curricula can prevent or delay the onset of problems such as drug use or delinquency, many communities have strengthened their commitment to providing prevention programs in local neighborhoods and schools (Gottfredson & Wilson, 2003). This renewed interest in strategies aimed at preventing childhood and adolescent problems follows a period of unprecedented advancement in the general field of prevention (Greenberg, 2004; Hawkins, Catalano, & Arthur, 2002). Prevention has changed significantly in the past several decades. In 1984, I was a doctoral student at the University of Washington studying the etiology, prevention, and treatment of juvenile delinquency and substance abuse. During my studies at the School of Social Work, I was fortunate to work on a federally funded intervention trial led by Professors J. David Hawkins and Richard f. Catalano of the Social Development Research Group (SDRG). When I began my doctoral training, SDRG was a small group of committed researchers interested in identifying risk and protective factors associated with the onset and persistence of childhood and adolescent antisocial behavior. Knowledge of risk and protective traits, guided by theoretical constructs from the social development model of antisocial behavior (Catalano & Hawkins, 1996), was being used by SDRG members to design and test interventions for high-risk children and families in longitudinal controlled trials. Today SDRG is composed of a nationally recognized community of scholars who have made significant contributions to understanding the developmental processes leading to antisocial conduct and to developing and testing prevention programs aimed at interrupting these processes. As a testament to this progress, I am pleased to publish in this issue the Aaron Rosen Lecture presented by J. David Hawkins at the 2005 meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). Recent advances and current challenges in prevention are chronicled in the following section and in remarks to the SSWR membership offered by Professor Hawkins. PREVENTION: AN ABBREVIATED HISTORY School and community prevention programs in the United States date back at least 40 years. Early efforts can be traced to the 1960s, when intervention approaches based on information dissemination and fear-arousal approaches were implemented in many of the nation's schools. These strategies stressed the adverse consequences and dramatized the dangers of drug use and delinquent conduct in an attempt to discourage young people from participating in problem behaviors. Experts agree that conveying information about the consequences and risks associated with problem behaviors such as delinquency and drug use is an important component of prevention programs. However, the effects of knowledge-based or fear-arousal techniques were largely unsuccessful in changing attitudes, intentions, or individual behaviors in children and youths (Bangert-Drowns, 1988; Moskowitz, 1989; Tobler, 1986). Affective education strategies and alternative programs and structured activities for children and youths took center stage in the late 1970s. Affective education was designed to increase responsible decision-making skills and enhance self-esteem. In this model, students were exposed to problem-solving and experiential activities based on the assumption that effective decision-making skills would deter involvement in antisocial behavior. Unfortunately, early affective education programs did not prevent or reduce antisocial behavior itself (Botvin & Griffin, 2003). Alternative programming was based on a belief that extracurricular activities could serve as a deterrent to antisocial behavior. This assumption implied that students who participated in after-school programs such as sports, arts, academic tutoring, or community activities would avoid involvement in problems like delinquency and drug use. …