A statewide sample of 1735 Iowa residents, approximately half of whom were victims of the 1993 Midwest Floods, participated in interviews 1 year prior to, and 30 to 90 days after, the disaster. Employing a rigorous methodology including both control-group comparisons and predisaster assessments, we performed a systematic evaluation of the disaster's impact. Overall, the disaster led to true but small rises in depressive symptoms and diagnoses 60-90 days postflood. The disaster-psychopathology effect was not moderated by predisaster depressive symptoms or diagnostically defined depression; rather, predisaster symptoms and diagnoses uniquely contributed to increases in postdisaster distress. However, increases in symptoms as a function of flood impact were slightly greater among respondents with the lowest incomes and among residents living in small rural communities, as opposed to on farms or in cities. Implications for individual- and community-level disaster response are discussed.

The problems targeted by preventive interventions are often complex, embedded in multiple levels of social and environmental context, and span the developmental lifespan. Despite this appreciation for multiple levels and systems of influence, prevention science has yet to apply analytic approaches that can satisfactorily address the complexities with which it is faced. In this article, we introduce a systems science approach to problem solving and methods especially equipped to handle complex relationships and their evolution over time. Progress in prevention science may be significantly enhanced by applying approaches that can examine a wide array of complex systems interactions among biology, behavior, and environment that jointly yield unique combinations of developmental risk and protective factors and outcomes. To illustrate the potential utility of a systems science approach, we present examples of current prevention research challenges, and propose how to complement traditional methods and augment research objectives by applying systems science methodologies.

Objective: The potential effectiveness of two group-administered social-skills training interventions for reducing high-risk drinking behavior was evaluated through a prospective randomized intervention trial with 3,406 members of a national college fraternity. Method: Ninety eight of 99 chapters of a national fraternity were randomly assigned, within three strata, to receive (1) a 3-hour baseline intervention, (2) the same baseline intervention plus two booster sessions, or (3) assessments only. The current article emphasizes a rigorous intent-to-treat analysis model that compares outcomes among members assigned to receive study interventions (vs assessment-only sites) regardless of whether they actually did receive them; it also includes individuals at intervention sites even if they did not participate. This model allows us to address a social policy issue regarding the effect that introducing such an intervention may have in changing the high-risk normative drink-

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are under increasing pressure to identify practical, cost-effective interventions, therapies, and medications. Overall, the public health impact could be substantial if effective science-based prevention and treatment programs were implemented on large scales with sufficient fidelity. Yet penetration of even the most successful interventions rarely occurs at a quick pace. Research-to-practice gaps are pervasive throughout various fields of behavioral health and safety. In this article the authors explore factors contributing to the pace of translation and reaffirm that research advances or retreats the progress of scientific discovery as data accumulate in what can be described as a translational research loop that is iterative and bidirectional. They also touch on the challenges inherent in deploying science to the marketplace, and in an attempt to foreshadow what's next for translational efforts, they conclude by offering some ideas about how researchers might more accurately conceptualize "best practices."