Abstract

The authors suggest that the most promising route to effective strategies for the prevention of adolescent alcohol and other drug problems is through a risk-focused approach. This approach requires the identification of risk factors for drug abuse, identification of methods by which risk factors have been effectively addressed, and application of these methods to appropriate high-risk and general population samples in controlled studies. The authors review risk and protective factors for drug abuse, assess a number of approaches for drug abuse prevention potential with high-risk groups, and make recommendations for research and practice. In spite of general decreases in the prevalence of the nonmed-ical use of most legal and illegal drugs in recent years, the abuse of alcohol and other drugs during adolescence and early adulthood remains a serious public health problem (Adams, Blanken, Ferguson, & Kopstein, 1990). The consequences of drug abuse are acute on both a personal and a societal level. For the developing young adult, drug and alcohol abuse under-mines motivation, interferes with cognitive processes, contrib-