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Universal and selective preventive interventions targeting youth behavioral problems have shown crossover effects on suicide risk, the second leading cause of death among youth. However, the mechanisms that explain this long-term unanticipated benefit are understudied and unclear. The current study examines the crossover effects of PROSPER, a community-university partnership model for delivering interventions for the prevention of adolescent substance misuse. We examine whether intervention effects on developmental trajectories of parent–child relationship quality and school belongingness explain the putative crossover effects. The analytical sample was 1,974 youth who participated in a randomized controlled trial of PROSPER in the 6th grade and completed an age 19 follow-up assessment. Participants completed annual assessments of parent–child relationship quality and school belongingness from the 6th to 12th grades, and reported on suicidal thoughts during the young adulthood assessment. Our developmental cascade model showed that PROSPER reduced the magnitude of declines in youths’ reports of school belongingness from the 6th to 12th grade. In turn, youth who reported less decline in school belongingness reported fewer depression symptoms and suicidal thoughts during young adulthood. Study findings highlight the role of decline in school belongingness as a factor that contributes to the effects of universal prevention programs on youth suicide risk.

Factors that might exacerbate or mitigate the transmission of depressive symptoms from parents to adolescents and the continuity of depressive symptoms into early adulthood are poorly understood. This study tested the hypothesis that the intergenerational transmission and stability of depressive symptoms would be stronger for girls than boys over adolescence and into early adulthood, while considering the possibility that the pattern of gender moderation might vary depending on parent gender and developmental timing. The participants were 667 rural Midwestern adolescents (52 % female) and their parents. Survey data on maternal and paternal depressive symptoms (at youth age 11) and on adolescent and young adult depressive symptoms (at youth ages 11, 18, and 21) were analyzed via multiple group structural equation modeling. Maternal depressive symptoms predicted increased late adolescent depressive symptoms for girls but not boys, and adolescent depressive symptoms were more stable in girls. Paternal depressive symptoms predicted increased late adolescent depressive symptoms for all youth. The findings suggest the need for early, tailored interventions.

We examined whether participation in adolescent substance use prevention programming can enhance long-term resilience into adulthood such that individuals were better able to cope with adversities during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, yielding benefits for the individuals, their partners/spouses, and children; 197 adults (28–30 years old) who entered the PROSPER randomized trial of substance use prevention programming as 6th graders and subsequently had become parents—and 128 of their partners—participated in two waves of long-term follow-up data collection. Respondents completed questionnaires on substance use, adjustment, parenting quality, and children’s mood and behavior problems 15 years after baseline, and again via an online survey in the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results were mixed, with some indications of better adjustment of PROSPER intervention compared to control participants during the early phase of the pandemic (less increase in alcohol use and less decrease in parenting warmth) and their children (lower levels of externalizing and internalizing problems) but several null results as well (no differences in other substance use behaviors, other parenting measures, or parent depression). Adolescent substance use prevention programs can foster long-term individual and interpersonal resilience factors that allow participants—as well as their children—to adapt and cope with unforeseen periods of acute stress and adversity with less deterioration in health and well-being.

The quality of romantic relationships formed during early adulthood has critical implications for physical and psychological wellbeing, future romantic relationships, and subsequent parenting of the next generation. The present study evaluates the cross-over effects of the PROSPER-delivered adolescent substance use prevention programming on young adult romantic relationship functioning through a long-term developmental cascade of adolescent skills and behaviors, along with subsequent family-of-origin functioning. Prospective, longitudinal, bivariate growth models were used to analyze the effects of the PROSPER-delivered interventions in a sample of 1008 youths living in rural and semi-rural communities in Iowa and Pennsylvania, starting in sixth grade (AgeM = 11.8; 62% female) who were in a steady romantic relationship at the young adult assessment (AgeM = 19.5). Findings indicated a cascading effect through which PROSPER promotes adolescent problem-solving skills during early-to-mid-adolescence; problem-solving skills were associated with better family functioning during mid-adolescence; and family functioning was associated with better romantic relationship quality, indicated by lower levels of relationship violence and more effective relationship problem-solving in young adulthood. PROSPER, which primarily targets adolescent substance misuse and conduct problem prevention, has lasting, collateral effects that benefit young adults in their romantic relationship functioning — which may have further downstream benefits for their own relationships and those of their children (i.e., intergenerational transmission effects). These findings add to the growing body of literature evidencing important cross-over effects of widely disseminated substance use prevention programs delivered during adolescence.

Preventive intervention effects on adolescent alcohol misuse may differ based on genotypes in gene-by-intervention (G x I) interactions, and these G x I interactions may vary as a function of age. The current study uses a novel statistical method, time-varying effect modeling (TVEM), to test an age-varying interaction between a single nucleotide polymorphism in the GABRA2 gene (rs279845) and a preventive intervention in predicting alcohol misuse in a longitudinal study of adolescents (ages 11–20). The preventive intervention was PROSPER, a community-based system for delivery of family and school programs selected from a menu of evidence-based interventions. TVEM results revealed a significant age-varying GABRA2 x intervention interaction from ages 12 to 18, with the peak effect size seen around age 13 (IRR = 0.50). The intervention significantly reduced alcohol misuse for adolescents with the GABRA2 TT genotype from ages 12.5 to 17 but did not reduce alcohol use for adolescents with the GABRA2 A allele at any age. Differences in intervention effects by GABRA2 genotype were most pronounced from ages 13 to 16—a period when drinking is associated with increased risk for alcohol use disorder. Our findings provide additional evidence that intervention effects on adolescent alcohol misuse may differ by genotype, and provide novel evidence that the interaction between GABRA2 and intervention effects on alcohol use may vary with age. Implications for interventions targeting adolescent alcohol misuse are discussed.

This article articulates joint priorities for the fields of prevention science and community psychology. These priorities are intended to address issues raised by the frequent observation of natural tensions between community practitioners and scientists. The first priority is to expand the knowledge base on practitioner–scientist partnerships, particularly on factors associated with positive outcomes within communities. To further articulate this priority, the paper first discusses the rapid growth in community‐based partnerships and the emergent research on them. Next described is an illustrative research project on a partnership model that links state university extension and public school delivery systems. The article then turns to the second, related priority of future capacity‐building for diffusion of effective partnership‐based interventions to achieve larger‐scale health and well‐being across communities. It outlines two salient tasks: clarification of a conceptual framework and the formulation of a comprehensive capacity‐building strategy for diffusion. The comprehensive strategy would require careful attention to the expansion of networks of effective partnerships, partnership‐based research agendas, and requisite policy‐making.

A randomized prevention trial contrasted families who took part in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF), a preventive intervention for rural African American mothers and their 11-year-olds, with control families. SAAF is based on a contextual model positing that regulated, communicative parenting causes changes in factors protecting youths from early alcohol use and sexual activity. Parenting variables included involvement-vigilance, racial socialization, communication about sex, and clear expectations for alcohol use. Youth protective factors included negative attitudes about early alcohol use and sexual activity, negative images of drinking youths, resistance efficacy, a goal-directed future orientation, and acceptance of parental influence. Intervention-induced changes in parenting mediated the effect of intervention group influences on changes in protective factors over a 7-month period.

Data from the in-school sample of the PROSPER preventive intervention dissemination trial were used to investigate associations between alcohol dehydrogenase genes and alcohol use across adolescence, and whether substance misuse interventions in the 6th and 7th grades (targeting parenting, family functioning, social norms, youth decision making, and peer group affiliations) modified associations between these genes and adolescent use. Primary analyses were run on a sample of 1,885 individuals and included three steps. First, we estimated unconditional growth curve models with separate slopes for alcohol use from 6th to 9th grade and from 9th to 12th grade, as well as the intercept at Grade 9. Second, we used intervention condition and three alcohol dehydrogenase genes, 1B ( ADH1B ), 1C ( ADH1C ), and 4 ( ADH4 ) to predict variance in slopes and intercept. Third, we examined whether genetic influences on model slopes and intercepts were moderated by intervention condition. The results indicated that the increase in alcohol use was greater in early adolescence than in middle adolescence; two of the genes, ADH1B and ADH1C , significantly predicted early adolescent slope and Grade 9 intercept, and associations between ADH1C and both early adolescent slope and intercept were significantly different across control and intervention conditions.

This study addresses replication in candidate gene × environment interaction (cG×E) research by investigating if the key findings from Brody, Beach, Philibert, Chen, and Murry (2009) can be detected using data (N = 1,809) from the PROSPER substance use preventive intervention delivery system. Parallel to Brody et al., this study tested the hypotheses that substance misuse initiation would increase faster from age 11 to age 14 and be higher at age 14 among: (a) 5-HTTLPR short carrier adolescents versus long homozygotes, (b) control versus intervention adolescents, and (c) 5-HTTLPR short carriers in the control condition versus all other participants. The hypotheses were generally supported and results were consistent with Brody et al.'s cG×I finding. Results are discussed in light of replication issues in cG×E research and implications for intervention.

Despite growing recognition of the important role implementation plays in successful prevention efforts, relatively little work has sought to demonstrate a causal relationship between implementation factors and participant outcomes. In turn, failure to explore the implementation-to-outcome link limits our understanding of the mechanisms essential to successful programming. This gap is partially due to the inability of current methodological procedures within prevention science to account for the multitude of confounders responsible for variation in implementation factors (i.e., selection bias). The current paper illustrates how propensity and marginal structural models can be used to improve causal inferences involving implementation factors not easily randomized (e.g., participant attendance). We first present analytic steps for simultaneously evaluating the impact of multiple implementation factors on prevention program outcome. Then, we demonstrate this approach for evaluating the impact of enrollment and attendance in a family program, over and above the impact of a school-based program, within PROSPER, a large-scale real-world prevention trial. Findings illustrate the capacity of this approach to successfully account for confounders that influence enrollment and attendance, thereby more accurately representing true causal relations. For instance, after accounting for selection bias, we observed a 5 % reduction in the prevalence of 11th grade underage drinking for those who chose to receive a family program and school program compared to those who received only the school program. Further, we detected a 7 % reduction in underage drinking for those with high attendance in the family program.