The Interaction of Child and Environment in the Early Development of Drug Involvement:

Abstract

This review covers four areas of work: first it provides an overview of the large scale studies of adolescent drinking and drug involvement, with particular focus on findings related to person-environment interaction, as these effects account for onset of drug use and involvement in drug use during the teen years. Of special interest is the extent to which different aspects of the environment (physiological, peer, parental) enter into the process. Section Two provides an extensive review of preadosure to drugs plays a role in the development of individual differences. Section Three examines issues of course, and presents a model for the way risk factors may aggregate or disaggregate over developmental time. Section Four describes a prevention program that was developed as a response to the issues reviewed. The question of whether drug abuse is a preventable phenomenon is also discussed.