New SDRG Paper States The Case For Prevention Investments Now

“Unleashing The Power of Prevention” - J. David Hawkins, Jeffrey M. Jenson, Richard F. Catalano, Mark W. Fraser et al.

“Prevention is the best investment we can make in behavioral health—and the time to make it is now.”

Over the past 30 years, a large body of scientific evidence has shown that behavioral health problems can be prevented. We have proof that prevention works: longitudinal studies have identified malleable individual and environmental risk factors that predict wide‐ranging behavioral health problems, including anxiety and depression; autism; self‐inflicted injury; risky sexual behaviors; unwanted pregnancies; obesity; risky driving; alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; delinquent behavior, violence and aggressive behavior; and dropping out of school. Research has also identified personal attributes and protective environmental influences that buffer or minimize the adverse effects of exposure to risk. These discoveries laid the foundation for developing and testing new preventive interventions. Over the past three decades, more than 50 programs have been found effective in controlled studies of interventions aimed at preventing behavioral health problems in children, adolescents, and young adults.