Coming of age of prevention science. Comments on the 1994 National Institute of Mental Health-Institute of Medicine Prevention reports.

The impressive results of prevention research in the last decade should be seen as only an initial demonstration phase of a research agenda that will require sustained support at national, state, and local levels. Future research will need to address problems of long-term follow-up, attention to mediators of program effectiveness, resources to adequately administer programs, and current neglect of state and local prevention infrastructures. Research on factors to facilitate program adoption and dissemination should receive greater emphasis and should appear earlier in the prevention intervention research cycle.