Background: School smoking bans give officials the authority to provide a smoke-free environment, but enacting policies within the school walls is just one step in comprehensive tobacco prevention among students. It is necessary to investigate factors beyond the school campus and into the neighborhoods that surround schools. The purpose of this…

This study evaluated the influence of tobacco possession-use-purchase (PUP) law enforcement and illicit drug use and offers. Twenty-four towns were randomly assigned into two conditions. Both conditions focused on reducing minors' access to commercial sources of tobacco. The communities assigned to the experimental condition also increased their…

Background: The school setting is frequently used both to educate youth about risks involved in tobacco use and to implement tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Given that school-based programs have resulted in limited success, it is necessary to identify other setting-level intervention strategies. School tobacco policies represent a type…

Tobacco use among youth remains one of our nation's most significant public health problems, and yet available evidence from prevention and cessation person-centered approaches has been mixed. Given these disappointing outcomes, some have recommended more public health approaches, and these include tobacco sales-to-minors and…

Childhood injury continues to be a major public health crisis in the United States, with a large percentage of injuries being preventable and controllable. This chapter provides information related to understanding child and youth injury. Studies have shown that injuries affect identifiable high-risk groups. Such host factors that put children at…

Corporations in the Chicago area (n=608) replied to a mail survey to assess the number that had developed no-smoking policies and program contents. Implications of the findings that company size had an effect on most outcome measures are discussed. (SLD)

The relationship between optimism, abstinence self-efficacy, and self-mastery was examined by investigating levels of these cognitive resources among two samples of recovering substance abusers: Oxford House residents who attended twelve-step groups and twelve-step members who had never lived in an Oxford House. Participants' levels of optimism…

An alternate approach in delivering mental health service to school systems is introduced. Rooted in preventive and community based principles, it switches the emphasis to primary preventive interventions as well as examining environmental and social system influences on children's development and adjustment. (Author/PN)

The paper describes a four-year research effort aimed at developing preventive educational interventions for children with behavior problems in inner city schools. The implications of switching the emphasis from early secondary to primary preventive programs are discussed. (Author)

Reviews four areas from the prevention science field, including: promoting healthy behavior; preventing substance abuse; preventing high-risk sexual behaviors; and preventing child abuse and sexual abuse. Recommendations are made regarding strategies for implementing empirically validated programs, supplementing school programs with ecological…

Studied the efficacy of two drug education programs for 41 seventh graders who were provided with either a traditional or an assertiveness drug prevention program. While both groups showed significant gains in knowledge, only those in the assertiveness group demonstrated significant changes in drug attitudes. (JAC)

Considerable erosion of gains have often been found during follow-up periods for behavioral treatment programs directed towards adult smokers. Focusing more attention on preventing smoking among youngsters currently not smoking or reducing smoking among those just beginning the habit might produce more favorable results. (Author)

Constituting a secondary preventive intervention, 61 low SES preschool children attending four inner-city day care centers were provided a program of social skills building exercises. In contrast to primary preventive efforts that focus on a central concern, secondary prevention attends to potentially serious concomitant issues. In this study the…

Two self-report techniques assessed student behaviors before and after life-skills substance abuse prevention program for inner city seventh graders. Retrospective pretest/posttest technique demonstrated no significant changes in drug usage; traditional pretest/posttest indicated significant increases in tobacco use. Results support continued use…

A project was developed to prevent problem behaviors in elementary school students. One of many projects initiated in recent years by the DePaul Mental Health Clinic, this project aims to create an ongoing, self-sustaining cmputer-assisted tutoring program at St. Mary of the Lake, a school located in Chicago's economically disadvantaged Uptown…