Scientists, educators, and parents of teens have long recognized the potency of peer influences on children and youth, but until recently, questions of how and why adolescents emulate their peers were largely overlooked. This book presents a framework for understanding the processes by which peers shape each other's attitudes and behavior, and…

Alcohol use is legal for persons age 21 and older, and the majority of people who drink do so without incident. However, there is a continuum of potential problems associated with alcohol consumption. This brief addresses the definition of an "alcohol problem" and problems associated with "risky drinking." It also addresses the…

Offers counseling strategies to help counselors identify and evaluate for seriousness of intent those students considering suicide. Discusses both verbal statements and situational clues which provide opportunities for counseling intervention. Suggests a counseling contract as a preventive approach. (JAC)

This chapter discusses adolescent drug abuse relapse prevention. It presents the following four conclusions regarding the efficacy of prevention programs. First, more controlled studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of relapse prevention strategies with adolescents in reducing factors such as cravings and increasing their…

The increasingly serious nature of juvenile criminal behavior has led to greater efforts to understand the roots, causes, and correlates of juvenile violence and chronic delinquency, as well as develop more effective means of identifying at-risk youth and treating serious and violent juvenile offenders. This book examines the realities and…

This manual provides resource tools and strategies to enhance the suicide prevention capabilities of health professionals and the health care setting in which care is provided. In the first section, terms are defined and the suicide prevention triangle model is described. Applications of the model and good practices for suicide prevention in any…

This booklet is designed to help Virginia special educators, law enforcement, and child protective service professionals recognize and understand abuse and neglect of children with disabilities; improve the reporting accuracy when there is suspicion of child abuse/neglect; and provide strategies for interdisciplinary collaboration that will…

Discusses the extent to which violence can be accurately predicted, suggesting interventions, control, and remediation. The educator's role in reducing violence includes dealing with the school, parents, media, and community. Educators need conflict resolution skills for defusing aggression and establishing better relations. (SM)

A study at the University of Texas, San Antonio's dental school resulted in development of a system of caries risk assessment, applied to all undergraduate clinic patients. The rationale, structure, elements, and application of the system are outlined, and course content supporting the system is noted. Need for validation and other improvements is…

This "In Brief" edition provides highlights from the "Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents: A Research-Based Guide for Parents, Educators, and Community Leaders, Second Edition." It presents the updated prevention principles, an overview of program planning, and critical first steps for those learning about prevention. Thus, this…

In 1997, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) published the first edition of "Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents: A Research-Based Guide" to share the latest NIDA-funded prevention research findings with parents, educators, and community leaders. The guide introduced the concept of "research-based prevention" with questions…