NCJ Number
220062
Journal
Criminology & Public Policy Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2007 Pages: 377-398
Date Published
August 2007
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This paper argues that the research base for effective prevention policy and practice has grown so much over the last three decades that it constitutes a cost-effective public and private investment.
Abstract
The author and his colleagues at the Social Development Research Group (SDRG) have made significant contributions in understanding and promoting healthy behaviors and positive social development among children, adolescents, and young adults. They have done this by conducting research on factors that influence development, testing the effectiveness of interventions, studying service systems and working to improve them, presenting science-based solutions to health and behavioral problems, and disseminating the knowledge produced by this research. This paper describes SDRG's work in the areas of school-based prevention, family-based prevention, and community-based crime prevention. SDRG's school-based prevention efforts include the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP), an ongoing longitudinal study of at-risk elementary-school children who have been involved in a school-based intervention strategy for grades 1-12 that involves students, teachers, and parents. SDRG's family-based prevention efforts have included a parenting program called Guiding Good Choices, which aims to reduce adolescent drug abuse and behavioral problems by increasing opportunities for involvement and interaction between parents and children, by teaching parents and children skills in resisting peer pressure and refusing to engage in inappropriate behavior, by increasing rewards for prosocial behavior, and by managing and reducing family conflict. The community crime prevention program described is called Communities That Care. This program has included the development of tools for conducting communitywide assessments of the precursors of adolescent problems and setting priorities for community-based factors that need to be addressed in order to promote healthy adolescent behavior. 60 references