NCJ Number
168220
Date Published
1997
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This chapter discusses the importance to adolescent substance abuse prevention of efforts to positively influence school climate and change community norms.
Abstract
The chapter examines school programs that are not aimed solely at transmitting substance abuse prevention information but at changing the climate and policies that affect the norms imparted to students. The chapter also looks at norm change from a community standpoint. This expansion of focus is important for two reasons. First, adolescence is a developmental period when influences outside the family begin to take on greater significance. Many young people spend most of their day under the influence of entities in before- and after-school programs, recreational or community activities and child-care settings. Second, it moves the prevention field away from examining teens and their families to an environmental focus where every community member has a responsibility to contribute to adolescent substance abuse prevention and general health promotion. In addition, it is important that substance abuse prevention be a truly multidisciplinary effort in order to avoid costly turf battles between professions. References