Background Behavioral disinhibition (externalizing/impulsivity) and behavioral inhibition (internalizing/anxiety) may contribute to the development of alcohol abuse and dependence. But tests of person-by-environment interactions in predicting alcohol use disorders are needed. This study examined the extent to which interactions between behavioral disinhibition, behavioral inhibition and family management during adolescence predict alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence at age 27. Methods This study used longitudinal data from a community sample of 808 men and women interviewed from age 10 to 27 in the Seattle Social Development Project. Zero-order correlations followed by a series of nested regressions examined the relationships between individual characteristics (behavioral disinhibition and behavioral inhibition/anxiety) and environment (good versus poor family management practices during adolescence) in predicting alcohol abuse and dependence criterion counts at age 27. Results Behavioral disinhibition and poor family management predicted increased likelihood of both alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence at age 27. Behavioral inhibition/anxiety was unrelated to both outcomes. Youths high in behavioral disinhibition were at increased risk for later alcohol abuse and dependence only in consistently poorly managed family environments. In consistently well-managed families, high levels of behavioral disinhibition did not increase risk for later alcohol abuse or dependence. Conclusions Behavioral disinhibition increases risk for alcohol abuse and dependence in early adulthood only for individuals who experience poor family management during adolescence. Interventions seeking to reduce environmental risks by strengthening consistent positive family management practices may prevent later alcohol abuse and dependence among individuals at risk due to behavioral disinhibition.

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Background: Research indicates that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescents are three

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This paper compares the advantages of a strength-based perspective to the long-standing pathology-based approach to assessment. Theoretical advantages to strength-based assessment, such as greater compatibility with early prevention efforts and increased acceptance by multiple stakeholders, are suggested. The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA), a reliable measure of within-child protective factors in preschoolers, is used to empirically validate the utility of strength-based assessment. The authors found the DECA to discriminate between groups of preschoolers with and without emotional and behavior problems, the DECA Total Protective Factor Scale to predict group membership just as well as the DECA Behavioral Concerns Screener, and the DECA assessment of protective factors to predict behavioral concerns as well as a standardized assessment of risk. These empirical findings, combined with the presented theoretical rationale, indicate that a strength-based perspective and the resilience model have great utility for universal use with preschool populations.Strength-based assessment and intervention is a comparatively new approach in child psychology, especially in contrast to the more established pathology-oriented models of childhood psychopathology. As a consequence, the literature discussing the relative advantages and challenges of strengthbased approaches is sparse and often anecdotal. After five years of implementing a strength-based assessment and intervention program for at-risk preschoolers, the Devereux Early Childhood Initiative can now further explain the merit of the strength-based perspective. This article shares some of the compelling theoretical reasons that one could use to advocate for a strengths orientation. Though many of these assertions have not yet been studied empirically, this article will present contrasted group data that clearly show the utility of strength-based assessment. This article is written in hope that the findings will encourage researchers and practitioners to put additional assumptions about the strengths perspective through a similar evaluative process.The most notable advantage of a strength-based approach is that it lends itself far more readily to primary prevention and wellness-promotion than a pathology-focused model. Rather than waiting for challenging or symptomatic behaviors to occur, a strength-based model can assess the absence or relative weakness of any necessary skill, competency, or attribute so that an intervention designed to strengthen these characteristics can be implemented prior to the emergence of problematic behaviors. When done effectively, this can result in either the avoidance of symptomatic behaviors completely or at least in their reduced severity, longevity, or pervasiveness. As Walker et al. (1996) explain so well, this rational for the strength perspective has already been embraced by more medically oriented sectors of the human service field. For example, the Department of Public Health makes recommenda-

This study examined whether the significant intervention effects of the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system on youth problem behaviors observed in a panel of eighth-grade students (Hawkins et al. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 163:789–798 2009) were mediated by community-level prevention system constructs posited in the CTC theory of change. Potential prevention system constructs included the community’s degree of (a) adoption of a science-based approach to prevention, (b) collaboration on prevention activities, (c) support for prevention, and (d) norms against adolescent drug use as reported by key community leaders in 24 communities. Higher levels of community adoption of a science-based approach to prevention and support for prevention in 2004 predicted significantly lower levels of youth problem behaviors in 2007, and higher levels of community norms against adolescent drug use predicted lower levels of youth drug use in 2007. Effects of the CTC intervention on youth problem behaviors by the end of eighth grade were mediated fully by community adoption of a science-based approach to prevention. No other significant mediated effects were found. Results support CTC’s theory of change that encourages communities to adopt a science- based approach to prevention as a primary mechanism for improving youth outcomes.

Coalition-based efforts that use a science-based approach to prevention can improve the wellbeing of community youth. This study measured several coalition capacities that are hypothesized to facilitate the adoption of a science-based approach to prevention in communities. Using data from 12 coalitions participating in a community-randomized trial of the prevention strategy Communities That Care (CTC), this paper describes select measurement properties of five salient coalition capacities (member substantive knowledge of prevention, member acquisition of new skills, member attitudes toward CTC, organizational linkages, and influence on organizations), as reported by coalition members, and examines the degree to which these capacities facilitated the community leader reports of the community-wide adoption of a science-based approach to prevention. Findings indicated that the five coalition capacities could be reliably measured using coalition member reports. Meta-regression analyses found that CTC had a greater impact on the adoption of a science-based prevention approach in 12 matched pairs of control and CTC communities where the CTC coalition had greater member (new skill acquisition) and organizational capacities (organizational linkages).

Purpose Community prevention coalitions are a common strategy to mobilize stakeholders to implement tested and effective prevention programs to promote adolescent health and well-being. This paper examines the sustainability of Communities That Care (CTC) coalitions approximately 20 months after study support for the intervention ended. Methods The Community Youth Development Study (CYDS) is a community-randomized trial of the CTC prevention system. Using data from 2007 and 2009 coalition leader interviews, this study reports changes in coalition activities from a period of study support for CTC (2007) to 20 months following the end of study support for CTC (2009), measured by the extent to which coalitions continued to meet specific benchmarks. Results Twenty months after study support for CTC implementation ended, 11 of 12 CTC coalitions in the CYDS still existed. The 11 remaining coalitions continued to report significantly higher scores on the benchmarks of phases 2 through 5 of the CTC system than did prevention coalitions in the control communities. At the 20-month follow-up, two-thirds of the CTC coalitions reported having a paid staff person. Conclusions This study found that the CTC coalitions maintained a relatively high level of implementation fidelity to the CTC system 20 months after the study support for the intervention ended. However, the downward trend in some of the measured benchmarks indicates that continued high-quality training and technical assistance may be important to ensure that CTC coalitions maintain a science-based approach to prevention, and continue to achieve public health impacts on adolescent health and behavior outcomes.