BCYF Project: Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among Children, Youth, and Young Adults: Research Advances and Promising Interventions

Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among Children, Youth, and Young Adults: Research Advances and Promising Interventions

Mental health and substance use disorders among children, youth, and young adults are major threats to the health and well-being of younger populations which often carryover into adulthood. The costs of treatment for mental health and addictive disorders, which create an enormous burden on the affected individuals, their families, and society, have stimulated increasing interest in prevention practices that can impede the onset or reduce the severity of the disorders. Prevention practices have emerged in a variety of settings, including programs for selected at-risk populations (such as children and youth in the child welfare system), school-based interventions, interventions in primary care settings, and community services designed to address a broad array of mental health needs and populations. Despite support from many providers and advocates, funding levels for prevention and mental health promotion services frequently remain low when compared to services for treatment and residential placements. Interest has continued to grow, however, in improving the rigor and effectiveness of preventive interventions that can mitigate or eliminate the onset of selected disorders, especially during early stages of development. Similarly, interest has increased in promoting prevention practices as well as fostering interventions that can lead to positive mental health among children, youth, and young adults.

This study is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. They have asked the committee, in part, to update a 1994 IOM report, Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders, with special attention to the research base and program experience with younger populations that has emerged since that time.

• Review promising areas of research that contribute to the prevention of mental disorders, substance abuse, and problem behaviors among children, youth, and young adults (to age 25), focusing in particular on genetics, neurobiology, and psychosocial research as well as the field of prevention science;

• Highlight areas of key advances and persistent challenges since the publication of the 1994 IOM report Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders: Frontiers for Preventive Intervention Research;

• Examine the research base within a developmental framework throughout the life span, with an emphasis on prevention and promotion opportunities that can improve the mental health and behavior of children, youth, and young adults;

• Review the current scope of federal efforts in the prevention of mental disorders and substance abuse and the promotion of mental health among at-risk populations, including children of parents with substance abuse or mental health disorders, abused and neglected children, children in foster care, children whose parents are absent or incarcerated, and children exposed to violence and other trauma, spanning the continuum from research to policy and services;

• Recommend areas of emphasis for future federal policies and programs of research support that would strengthen a developmental approach to a prevention research agenda as well as opportunities to foster public and private sector collaboration in prevention and promotion efforts for children, youth, and young adults, particularly in educational, child welfare, and primary care settings;

• Prepare a final report that will provide a state-of-the-art review of prevention research and develop a dissemination strategy to encourage the use of evidence-based research in prevention programs and practices in addressing the mental health needs of children, youth, and young adults.

The Committee on Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among Children, Youth, and Young Adults: Research Advances and Promising Interventions includes members with expertise in areas such as child welfare, education, methodology, genetics, neurobiology, health and mental health services, prevention research, psychiatry, psychology, and epidemiology.

Kenneth E. Warner (Chair), University of Michigan
Thomas F. Boat (Vice Chair), University of Cincinnati
William R. Beardslee, Children's Hospital Boston
Carl C. Bell, Community Mental Health Council, Inc.
Anthony Biglan, Oregon Research Institute
C. Hendricks Brown, University of South Florida
Elizabeth J. Costello, Duke University
Teresa D. LaFromboise, Stanford University
Ricardo F. Muñoz, University of California, San Francisco
Peter J. Pecora, Casey Family Programs
Bradley S. Peterson, Columbia University
Linda A. Randolph, Developing Families Center, Inc.
Irwin Sandler, Arizona State University