%0 Journal Article %J Prev Sci %D 2014 %T Variation in the sustained effects of the Communities That Care prevention system on adolescent smoking, delinquency, and violence. %A Oesterle, Sabrina %A Hawkins, J D %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Abbott, Robert D %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Adolescent Health Services %K Alcohol Drinking %K Community Health Services %K Female %K Humans %K Juvenile Delinquency %K Male %K Prevalence %K Program Evaluation %K Risk Factors %K Risk Reduction Behavior %K Smoking %K United States %K Violence %X

Communities That Care (CTC) is a universal, science-based community prevention system designed to reduce risk, enhance protection, and prevent adolescent health and behavior problems community wide. CTC has been found to have sustained effects on cigarette use and delinquent and violent behaviors in grade 10 in a panel of 4,407 students followed from fifth grade in a community randomized trial. It is important to test variation in the effects of this prevention system designed to be universal to understand for whom it is most effective and whether it fails to produce change or leads to iatrogenic effects for certain categories of individuals. The present study examined variation in the sustained effects of CTC on tenth-grade cigarette use and delinquent and violent behaviors. Interaction analyses suggest that the effect of CTC did not differ between those who had high levels of community-targeted risk factors at baseline or had already engaged in substance use, delinquency, or violence at baseline versus those who had not. Although CTC reduced the prevalence of both girls' and boys' problem behaviors, the effect on delinquency was marginally (pā€‰=ā€‰0.08) larger for boys than for girls.

%B Prev Sci %V 15 %P 138-45 %8 2014 Apr %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1007/s11121-013-0365-y %0 Journal Article %J Struct Equ Modeling %D 2012 %T Not quite normal: Consequences of violating the assumption of normality in regression mixture models. %A Van Horn, M l %A Smith, Jessalyn %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Jaki, Thomas %A Feaster, Daniel J %A Masyn, Katherine %A Hawkins, J D %A Howe, George %X

Regression mixture models are a new approach for finding differential effects which have only recently begun to be used in applied research. This approach comes at the cost of the assumption that error terms are normally distributed within classes. The current study uses Monte Carlo simulations to explore the effects of relatively minor violations of this assumption, the use of an ordered polytomous outcome is then examined as an alternative which makes somewhat weaker assumptions, and finally both approaches are demonstrated with an applied example looking at differences in the effects of family management on the highly skewed outcome of drug use. Results show that violating the assumption of normal errors results in systematic bias in both latent class enumeration and parameter estimates. Additional classes which reflect violations of distributional assumptions are found. Under some conditions it is possible to come to conclusions that are consistent with the effects in the population, but when errors are skewed in both classes the results typically no longer reflect even the pattern of effects in the population. The polytomous regression model performs better under all scenarios examined and comes to reasonable results with the highly skewed outcome in the applied example. We recommend that careful evaluation of model sensitivity to distributional assumptions be the norm when conducting regression mixture models.

%B Struct Equ Modeling %V 19 %P 227-249 %8 2012 %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1080/10705511.2012.659622 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Community Psychol %D 2012 %T Sustaining the utilization and high quality implementation of tested and effective prevention programs using the Communities That Care prevention system. %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Hanson, Koren %A Briney, John S %A Hawkins, J D %K Community Networks %K Health Care Surveys %K Humans %K Interviews as Topic %K Models, Organizational %K Preventive Medicine %K Quality of Health Care %K United States %X

This paper describes the extent to which communities implementing the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system adopt, replicate with fidelity, and sustain programs shown to be effective in reducing adolescent drug use, delinquency, and other problem behaviors. Data were collected from directors of community-based agencies and coalitions, school principals, service providers, and teachers, all of whom participated in a randomized, controlled evaluation of CTC in 24 communities. The results indicated significantly increased use and sustainability of tested, effective prevention programs in the 12 CTC intervention communities compared to the 12 control communities, during the active phase of the research project when training, technical assistance, and funding were provided to intervention sites, and 2 years following provision of such resources. At both time points, intervention communities also delivered prevention services to a significantly greater number of children and parents. The quality of implementation was high in both conditions, with only one significant difference: CTC sites were significantly more likely than control sites to monitor the quality of implementation during the sustainability phase of the project.

%B Am J Community Psychol %V 49 %P 365-77 %8 2012 Jun %G eng %N 3-4 %R 10.1007/s10464-011-9463-9 %0 Journal Article %J Lancet %D 2012 %T Worldwide application of prevention science in adolescent health. %A Catalano, Richard F %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Gavin, Loretta E %A Greenberg, Mark T %A Irwin, Charles E %A Ross, David A %A Shek, Daniel T L %K Adolescent Medicine %K Child %K Global Health %K Government Programs %K Health Behavior %K Health Status %K Humans %K Public Health %K Young Adult %X

The burden of morbidity and mortality from non-communicable disease has risen worldwide and is accelerating in low-income and middle-income countries, whereas the burden from infectious diseases has declined. Since this transition, the prevention of non-communicable disease as well as communicable disease causes of adolescent mortality has risen in importance. Problem behaviours that increase the short-term or long-term likelihood of morbidity and mortality, including alcohol, tobacco, and other drug misuse, mental health problems, unsafe sex, risky and unsafe driving, and violence are largely preventable. In the past 30 years new discoveries have led to prevention science being established as a discipline designed to mitigate these problem behaviours. Longitudinal studies have provided an understanding of risk and protective factors across the life course for many of these problem behaviours. Risks cluster across development to produce early accumulation of risk in childhood and more pervasive risk in adolescence. This understanding has led to the construction of developmentally appropriate prevention policies and programmes that have shown short-term and long-term reductions in these adolescent problem behaviours. We describe the principles of prevention science, provide examples of efficacious preventive interventions, describe challenges and potential solutions to take efficacious prevention policies and programmes to scale, and conclude with recommendations to reduce the burden of adolescent mortality and morbidity worldwide through preventive intervention.

%B Lancet %V 379 %P 1653-64 %8 2012 Apr 28 %G eng %N 9826 %R 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60238-4 %0 Journal Article %J Prev Sci %D 2011 %T Effects of Communities That Care on the adoption and implementation fidelity of evidence-based prevention programs in communities: Results from a randomized controlled trial. %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Arthur, Michael W %A Hanson, Koren %A Briney, John S %A Hawkins, J D %K Community Health Services %K Diffusion of Innovation %K Evidence-Based Practice %K Internet %K Preventive Health Services %X

This paper describes findings from the Community Youth Development Study (CYDS), a randomized controlled trial of the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system, on the adoption and implementation fidelity of science-based prevention programming in 24 communities. Data were collected using the Community Resource Documentation (CRD), which entailed a multi-tiered sampling process and phone and web-based surveys with directors of community-based agencies and coalitions, school principals, service providers, and teachers. Four years after the initiation of the CTC prevention system, the results indicated increased use of tested, effective prevention programs in the 12 CTC intervention communities compared to the 12 control communities, and significant differences favoring the intervention communities in the numbers of children and families participating in these programs. Few significant differences were found regarding implementation quality; respondents from both intervention and control communities reported high rates of implementation fidelity across the services provided.

%B Prev Sci %V 12 %P 223-34 %8 2011 Sep %G eng %N 3 %R 10.1007/s11121-011-0226-5 %0 Journal Article %J Alcohol Res Health %D 2011 %T Engaging communities to prevent underage drinking. %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Hawkins, J D %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Age Factors %K Alcohol Drinking %K Health Promotion %K Humans %K Residence Characteristics %K Risk Factors %X

Community-based efforts offer broad potential for achieving population-level reductions in alcohol misuse among youth and young adults. A common feature of successful community strategies is reliance on local coalitions to select and fully implement preventive interventions that have been shown to be effective in changing factors that influence risk of youth engaging in alcohol use, including both proximal influences and structural and/or environmental factors related to alcohol use. Inclusion of a universal, school-based prevention curriculum in the larger community-based effort is associated with the reduction of alcohol use by youth younger than 18 years of age and can help reach large numbers of youth with effective alcohol misuse prevention.

%B Alcohol Res Health %V 34 %P 167-74 %8 2011 %G eng %N 2 %R SPS-AR&H-35 %0 Journal Article %J Youth Violence Juv Justice %D 2011 %T How do families matter? Age and gender differences in family influences on delinquency and drug use %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Van Horn, M l %A Antaramian, Susan %A Hawkins, J D %X

Parenting practices, age, and gender all influence adolescent delinquency and drug use, but few studies have examined how these factors interact to affect offending. Using data from 18,512 students in Grades 6, 8, 10 and 12, this study found that across grades, parents treated girls and boys differently, but neither sex received preferential treatment for all practices assessed, and younger children reported more positive parenting than older students. Family factors were significantly related to delinquency and drug use for both sexes and for all grades. However, particular parenting practices showed gender and age differences in the degree to which they were related to outcomes, which indicates complexities in parent/child interactions that must be taken into account when investigating the causes of adolescent offending and when planning strategies to prevent the development of problem behaviors.

%B Youth Violence Juv Justice %V 9 %P 150-170 %8 2011 Apr %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1177/1541204010377748 %0 Journal Article %J J Community Psychol %D 2011 %T Prevention service system transformation using Communities That Care %A Brown, Eric C %A Hawkins, J D %A Arthur, Michael W %A Briney, John S %A Fagan, Abigail A %X

This study examines prevention system transformation as part of a community-randomized controlled trial of Communities That Care (CTC). Using data from surveys of community leaders, we examine differences between CTC and control communities 4.5 years after CTC implementation. Significantly higher levels of adopting a science-based approach to prevention observed in CTC communities compared to controls in 2004 were maintained in 2007. Leaders in CTC communities expressed a willingness to contribute significantly more funds to prevention than did leaders in control communities in 2007. Significant differences in levels of community collaboration observed in 2004 were not maintained in 2007. Leaders in CTC communities with high poverty rates and large minority student populations reported higher levels of community norms against drug use and greater use of the social development strategy, respectively, than did leaders in control communities with similar characteristics.

%B J Community Psychol %V 39 %P 183-201 %8 2011 Mar 1 %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1002/jcop.20426 %0 Journal Article %J Prev Sci %D 2010 %T Testing the universality of the effects of the communities that care prevention system for preventing adolescent drug use and delinquency. %A Oesterle, Sabrina %A Hawkins, J D %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Abbott, Robert D %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Female %K Humans %K Juvenile Delinquency %K Male %K Preventive Health Services %K Substance-Related Disorders %X

Universal community-oriented interventions are an important component in the prevention of youth health and behavior problems. Testing the universality of the effects of an intervention that was designed to be universal is important because it provides information about how the program operates and for whom and under what conditions it is most effective. The present study examined whether the previously established significant effects of the universal, community-based Communities That Care (CTC) prevention program on the prevalence of substance use and the variety of delinquent behaviors held equally for boys and girls and in risk-related subgroups defined by early substance use, early delinquency, and high levels of community-targeted risk at baseline. Interaction analyses of data from a panel of 4,407 students followed from Grade 5 to Grade 8 in the first randomized trial of CTC in 12 matched community pairs suggests that CTC reduced students' substance use and delinquency equally across risk-related subgroups and gender, with two exceptions: The effect of CTC on reducing substance use in 8th grade was stronger for boys than girls and the impact of CTC on reducing 8th-grade delinquency was stronger for students who were nondelinquent at baseline.

%B Prev Sci %V 11 %P 411-23 %8 2010 Dec %G eng %N 4 %R 10.1007/s11121-010-0178-1