Models for effective prevention.

The social influence models do provide some optimism for primary prevention efforts. Prevention programs appear most effective when 1) the target behavior of the intervention has received increasing societal disapproval (such as cigarette smoking), 2) multiple years of behavioral health education are planned, and 3) community-wide involvement or mass media complement a school-based peer-led program (45,46). Short-term programs and those involving alcohol use have had less favorable outcomes. Future research in primary prevention should address concerns of high-risk groups and high-risk countries, such as lower income populations in the United States or countries that have large adolescent homeless populations. The utilization of adolescent leaders for program dissemination might be particularly critical in these settings. A second major and global concern should focus upon alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. In many communities adolescent alcohol use is normative and even adult supported. Thus, young people are getting quite inconsistent messages on alcohol from their schools, from TV, from peers, and from parents. This inconsistency may translate into many tragic and avoidable deaths for young people. Clearly, in the area of alcohol-related problems, community-wide involvement may be necessary. A third direction for prevention research should involve issues of norms, access, and enforcement including policy interventions, such as involve the availability of cigarette vending machines or the ease of under-age buying or levels of taxation. These methods affect adolescents more acutely since their financial resources, for the most part, are more limited. These policy level methods also signify to adolescents what adults consider appropriate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)