Community Programs Help Teens Resist Risky Behaviors
source: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE58861320090909?feedType=RSS&feedName=health...
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Giving communities a menu of proven programs to choose from is an effective way to help reduce risky behaviors among young teens, new research shows.
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.1)
Communities that Care (CTC) is a "prevention system" consisting of 56 different programs designed to reduce risk factors for problem teen behavior or boost factors that protect against such behavior. Communities first survey adolescents to identify high levels of risk factors-like poor parental supervision or school failure--and low levels of protective factors, such as strong community involvement. They then choose two to five factors to work on, and pick programs that address these concerns.
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.2)
Hawkins and his colleagues compared 24 small towns in seven different states that had been assigned at random to a control group or to implement CTC. To assess the program's effects, the researchers surveyed 4,407 students every year, from fifth grade to eighth grade.
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.4)
In the CTC communities, Hawkins and his team found, students were less likely to start drinking, start smoking cigarettes, or start using smokeless tobacco, and they were also less likely to start engaging in delinquent behavior. For example, kids in the control communities were 60% more likely to start drinking between seventh and eighth grade than those in the CTC communities, while they were about twice as likely to start smoking or using smokeless tobacco. By eighth grade, 21% of students in the control communities had initiated delinquent behavior, compared to 16% of kids in the CTC towns.
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.5-6)
Among eighth graders in the CTC communities, the likelihood of binge drinking in the past two weeks, as well as drinking and smokeless tobacco use over the past 30 days, were significantly lower. These young people also engaged in fewer types of delinquent behavior.
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.7)
[This is a Federal program...]
[http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/features/ctc/resources.aspx]
[IMAGE: fivetownctc.com]
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.1)
Communities that Care (CTC) is a "prevention system" consisting of 56 different programs designed to reduce risk factors for problem teen behavior or boost factors that protect against such behavior. Communities first survey adolescents to identify high levels of risk factors-like poor parental supervision or school failure--and low levels of protective factors, such as strong community involvement. They then choose two to five factors to work on, and pick programs that address these concerns.
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.2)
Hawkins and his colleagues compared 24 small towns in seven different states that had been assigned at random to a control group or to implement CTC. To assess the program's effects, the researchers surveyed 4,407 students every year, from fifth grade to eighth grade.
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.4)
In the CTC communities, Hawkins and his team found, students were less likely to start drinking, start smoking cigarettes, or start using smokeless tobacco, and they were also less likely to start engaging in delinquent behavior. For example, kids in the control communities were 60% more likely to start drinking between seventh and eighth grade than those in the CTC communities, while they were about twice as likely to start smoking or using smokeless tobacco. By eighth grade, 21% of students in the control communities had initiated delinquent behavior, compared to 16% of kids in the CTC towns.
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.5-6)
Among eighth graders in the CTC communities, the likelihood of binge drinking in the past two weeks, as well as drinking and smokeless tobacco use over the past 30 days, were significantly lower. These young people also engaged in fewer types of delinquent behavior.
(Harding, A., 2009, September 9, par.7)
[This is a Federal program...]
[http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/features/ctc/resources.aspx]
[IMAGE: fivetownctc.com]
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